A Squirrel Hill man who said he shot his former girlfriend in self-defense was acquitted Friday of homicide charges. Former white supremacist Hardy Lloyd, 28, shot Lori Hann, 41, just above her left eye the night of Aug. 3, 2004, in Squirrel Hill. Lloyd gripped his attorney's hand as the jury foreman delivered the verdict, clearing Lloyd of first- and third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. He was convicted of a gun charge, carrying a firearm without a license. "We think the jury followed the law, and applied the facts. It was the appropriate decision under the facts," said defense attorney Caroline Roberto. "His statement to police was very convincing." Hann's family left the courtroom disappointed. "You have to respect (the jury's) verdict, but obviously I disagree with it," said Deputy District Attorney Laura Ditka. In a taped statement to police that was played during the trial, Lloyd said the night of the shooting that he had been with a new girlfriend, Lisa Donato, and later met Hann in front of his apartment. He got into Hann's car. She started driving erratically and saying life had no meaning. Lloyd was able to get her to pull over on Beacon Street. Hann then pulled out a gun, pointed it at him and cocked it, the statement said. Hann then got out of her car, walking towards a stranger's house, and Lloyd followed. Lloyd said he fired his own gun when Hann spun around, thinking she was going to shoot him, he said in the statement. Police found her gun in her car beside the driver's-side door and seat. Ditka argued Lloyd intentionally killed Hann as she ran for help. Joan Gordon, a member of the jury, which consisted of nine women and three men, said the panel believed the prosecution did not disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lloyd acted in self-defense. A son of a Shadyside doctor, Lloyd once operated a Web site that preached violence against non-whites, police said. A picture of Lloyd giving the Nazi salute was found in his apartment, although the killing of Hann, who is white, is unrelated to those activities, police have said. Roberto and Lloyd's uncle, Ted Brooks, said Lloyd disavowed his white supremacist leanings years ago. Brooks declined further comment on the trial, saying the jury found that self-defense was justified. Lloyd faces up to five years in jail on the gun charge when he is sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole. A sentencing date has not been set. Lloyd returned yesterday to the county jail, where he has already served about two years. Roberto said she will seek to have him released on bond.

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