Tuesday, March 25, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Was political fringe activist Harry Tootle a gun-wielding drunk who threatened a patron and security guard in the parking lot of a topless bar or a journalist trying to break the Oklahoma City bombing case?
Those were the images presented Monday to a District Court jury during opening statements at Tootle's trial on felony assault and weapons charges.
Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Maxson said Tootle was the erratic man who darted Rambo-like from shadow to shadow with his pistol drawn as he tried to elude the patron and security guard at Larry's Villa at Rancho Drive and Bonanza Road.
The customer, Maxson said, had complained at the bar that he had been threatened by Tootle, who once owned a tiny UHF television station that he used to espouse his political views.
The incident came to an abrupt end when Tootle surrendered after being surrounded by Metro Police officers who shined spotlights and aimed weapons at him as he hid behind a Dumpster on Nov. 5, 1995.
Defense attorney Lamond Mills complained to the jury that Tootle was the victim as he vainly attempted to contact a source who claimed to have information about the Oklahoma City federal building bombing.
Mills called it "an undercover investigation" that might have born fruit had Tootle's conversation with a man at the meeting site by the bar not been interrupted by the "very excited and very angry" man.
The attorney said if Tootle chooses to testify, he will say that the guard was not dressed in a security uniform but was "some kind of cowboy, a Rambo."
Mills admits that Tootle had a gun with him but denied it was ever concealed, as charges allege, or that Tootle pointed it at anyone.
Testimony began today with the state's witnesses, some of whom had testified at an earlier hearing that Tootle vowed at the time police apprehended him that if he were arrested, 50 buildings would be bombed.
Nevertheless, he was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest. In the 16 months since then, no bombs have gone off.
Since his arrest, Tootle no longer has the broadcasting license for his UHF television station where he spouted extremist rhetoric.
The man who ran an unsuccessful campaign for sheriff three years ago has since moved to Idaho.
The key witnesses at Wednesday's hearing were the security guard at Larry's Villa, who testified that Tootle pointed a Derringer at him, and one of the Metro Police officers who arrested the activist.
At Tootle's preliminary hearing a year ago, Larry's Villa security guard Robert Cardosi testified that the incident began when he saw Tootle talking with a man who had just been kicked out of the topless bar.
When he approached the pair, Cardosi said Tootle identified himself as an FBI agent and warned him he was in "an FBI hot zone."
He said he asked Tootle for his identification but Tootle only produced a silver 2-shot Derringer which he pointed at the guard's chest.
Tootle has said he brandished the diminutive pistol -- but didn't point it -- to discourage a carjacking in the parking lot.
Cardosi said he fled into the bar and called police before returning to the parking lot with a friend to keep an eye on Tootle until the officers arrived more than 10 minutes later.
During that time, according to testimony, Tootle fled to a nearby Dumpster where officers confronted him.
In court Monday, Mills said that before the confrontation Tootle had knocked on doors of an adjacent apartment building and asked tenants to call police.
But it was Cardosi's call that Maxson said resulted in the police response.
At last year's preliminary hearing, Metro Officer Donald Hoier testified that as he and other officers approached Tootle, they spotted the gun still in his hand and took up defensive positions while repeatedly ordering Tootle to drop the weapon.
After about a minute Tootle discarded the .22-caliber weapon.
Although a charge of carrying a concealed weapon is usually a gross misdemeanor, it is a felony count in Tootle's case because he was convicted of a misdemeanor count of the same charge in 1994.
The resisting arrest charge is a felony because a weapon was involved.
Mills has contended that the defendant "at all times acted in his own self defense."
Mills also contends that Tootle had "a constitutional right to carry a weapon at all times."
Both witnesses at the hearing described Tootle as being very intoxicated at the time of his arrest.
Hoier testified that Tootle rambled on about being pursued by the Mafia.
The officer added that Tootle "had a bunch of militia literature on him" and told him he was "considered to be John Doe 2" in the Oklahoma City bombing.
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