Katie Kauffman was honored as Trial Attorney of the Year at the Clark County Bar Association’s Barrister Ball on March 2 at Warehouse ’23.

Jeff Barrar presented the award, which was voted on by members of the bar association.

Barrar said Kauffman, who started working for his firm in 2012, had a very busy and successful year in court in 2018. She won acquittals for a client charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, and another client charged with indecent liberties.

For a client facing life in prison under the state’s “third strike” law, she did so well at trial that the prosecutor failed to win a conviction; the trial ended with a hung jury. Kauffman subsequently negotiated a deal for her client, who received a substantially lighter prison sentence.

Recently, Barrar said, Kauffman co-chaired a murder trial with him, and the client was convicted only of a lesser charge of manslaughter.

In addition to those serious felony cases, Kauffman won acquittals for four clients charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, Barrar said.

“If I were to list two of her qualities most responsible for her success, they would be confidence and compassion. Her confidence comes from the years of preparation and hard work, the compassion we can all thank her parents for,” Barrar said.

“I’d like to close with one final thought,” he said. “The next time someone comes to you and says they have a son or daughter or another loved one charged with a crime and they were appointed a public defender, what should they do? You tell them that in 2018 a public defender was recognized by her peers as being the best trial attorney in the county.”

Attorneys Jeff Barrar and Katie Kauffman successfully defended a client charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife. On Dec. 6, a jury agreed with the defense that the shooting was not intentional and convicted the client on a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter.

Jurors also acquitted the client, Todd Marjama Jr., on a charge of first-degree assault. That felony charge was because the client’s young daughter had been with her mother when her mother was shot behind a closed bathroom door.

There was no evidence the client knew his daughter had been in the bathroom.

Trial began Nov. 26 in Clark County Superior Court. Jurors heard from 28 witnesses over seven days of testimony.  The 12 jurors deliberated approximately five hours on Dec. 6 before reaching a verdict.

Katie Kauffman’s client, who was facing a life sentence under the state’s “three strikes” law, was sentenced this week to eight years in prison.

With time off for good behavior, he will be out in about five years.

It was a big win for Kauffman’s 32-year-old client. His criminal history includes two convictions for robbery. Those are strike offenses under Washington’s Persistent Offender Accountability Act, which was approved by voters in 1993. The law mandates that convictions on a third strike carry life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Last year, the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office charged Kauffman’s client with burglary in the first degree (domestic violence), felony violation of a no-contact order, theft of a motor vehicle (domestic violence) and residential burglary (domestic violence.)

First-degree burglary counts as a strike.

A jury unanimously agreed this week with Katie Kauffman that her client was acting in self-defense when he stabbed a neighbor, and found him not guilty of felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Trial began in Clark County Superior Court on Nov. 13. The 12 jurors deliberated five hours on Nov. 15 before returning a verdict.

If convicted of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, Kauffman’s client would have faced 13 to 21 months in prison.

Kauffman was assisted at trial by attorney Gregger Highberg.