Case of Portland strip club bouncer charged with stomping customer to death, puncturing his heart with broken rib, results in hung jury for second time

According to Oregon Live, a jury in Multnomah County in the case of former Reveal Lounge bouncer Alex Alexander deliberated past 7 pm on Friday and returned Monday, but even with one juror substituted, was still deadlocked on charges of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault.

Alexander was the bouncer at the Southwest Portland strip club on Aug 21, 2019. Surveillance videos show him at 12:40 am throwing 60-year-old Lavoy Blackledge out of a poker room above the club for stealing other players’ food while he was drunk.

35 minutes later, a police officer who was passing the establishment found Blackledge face down on the sidewalk of the Barbur Boulevard overpass near the club.

During the trial, a medical examiner testified that blunt force trauma broke Blackledge’s ribs which shattered and pierced his heart.

Alyssa Cook, an employee at the club, testified during the trial that she saw Alexander stomp on Blackledge, and her mother Marla Cook, the former bar manager said Alexander told her when she confronted him, “I can burn my shoes.”

Cook claimed she understood that as Alexander discussing destroying evidence.

Kirsten Wood testified that she saw a white man yelling racial slurs at a black man who kicked him from behind and stomped on his back, while she was out for a walk with her dog.

According to prosecutors, Alexander originally told police he had last seen Blackledge walking away toward the overpass, but after Alexander saw surveillance video of him running onto the bridge for about two seconds, he changed his story and claimed he offered Blackledge a cab but left when the victim cursed at him.

There is no footage of the incident itself.

In January 2023, a hung jury in the case and a mistrial were declared by Circuit Judge Kathleen Dailey.

Alexander remains free from custody.