LOS ANGELES : Nightclub Bouncer Cleared in Shooting Deaths of 2

A nightclub bouncer was acquitted of murder Wednesday in the deaths of two men he shot outside the Blak and Bloo club in Hollywood.

Attorneys for Roman Paul Luisi, 24, said he shot Eric Pierce, 25, and Adrian Thames, 23, in self-defense because he feared that the men--patrons he had thrown out of the nightspot a short time earlier--had returned to kill him.

Police said the trouble at the now-closed Blak and Bloo began about 2 a.m. on Nov. 30, 1992, when Luisi ordered Pierce and Thames to leave the club after they had argued with other men.

When Pierce, Thames and a friend, Andre Murphy, returned to the club a short time later, Luisi burst out the door, shouted something and opened fire, according to Murphy’s testimony at a hearing in 1993.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Carter said Luisi thought of himself as Rambo, but Luisi’s attorney, Leslie Abramson, said her client was simply reacting to fears that the three men intended to kill him. Luisi testified that he thought Pierce had a pistol, but no gun was ever recovered.

Thames’ mother, Janie Thames, expressed disappointment after the verdict, saying her family feels “as though we were let down by the justice system.”