Attorney Allison Widney recently won a not-guilty verdict for a client accused of harassing and assaulting the mother of his child, whose answer to “What happened?” changed every time she was asked and evolved into a story that the jury didn’t believe.

Jurors deliberated a little longer than an hour before returning the verdict on June 23 in Clark County District Court. 

It was the second time an assistant Vancouver city prosecutor had tried the case.

 The first time ended with a judge declaring a mistrial because the jury could not reach a verdict; the six jurors later told attorneys they were deadlocked,  3-3, after four hours of deliberations.

The alleged victim initially told police officers she’d been choked. During a pre-trial interview with an investigator and then at trial, her description grew more exaggerated, even going so far to say her ex-boyfriend had lifted her up off the ground with one hand. 

Given the woman clearly outweighed her ex, this didn’t seem possible. The case was a he-said, she-said, so there were no witnesses to support her claims.