Attorney Whitney Hawke successfully defended a client this week against accusations he assaulted his girlfriend.

A jury deliberated 35 minutes on Wednesday in Clark County District Court before unanimously voting to acquit Hawke’s client, who testified that the argument was only verbal and not physical.

While the alleged victim claimed her boyfriend ripped off two of her fake fingernails and pulled her hair, an independent witness told jurors she saw the couple arguing but backed up the defendant’s story that he never touched his girlfriend.

 The girlfriend’s daughter called 911 to report the argument, and the girlfriend initially told the dispatcher that she wasn’t hurt. She later called 911 and claimed that she had two “busted” fingernails and her head hurt from having her hair pulled. She showed a Clark County deputy sheriff one of her hands, and he photographed it for his report. Two of what appeared to be press-on acrylic nails were missing. She said the nails broke off when her boyfriend grabbed his phone which she had taken because she was upset about some text messages. The deputy sheriff went to the spot where she said the nails broke off and found fragments of the hot pink, tiger-striped nails in the street. He also noted that there was a small bump on her head where she said her hair had been pulled.

The client was charged with fourth-degree assault domestic violence, a gross misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.