Isabelle Askanas got a back-to-back wins in Clark County District Court last week. On Sept. 8 she got a client acquitted of assault and malicious mischief and on Sept. 9 she won a quick not-guilty verdict for a client charged with racing.

Askanas and Eliza Haggerty represented a client who was cited last year by a Clark County sheriff’s deputy who had been parked near Northeast 55th Avenue and Northeast Padden Parkway. About 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2021, the deputy wrote that two vehicles passed him traveling east on Padden Parkway “at a high rate of speed.” Both vehicles stopped at a red light, with the deputy now behind them. The deputy wrote that when the light turned green, “both vehicles’ wheels squeeled and the vehicles accelerated in a speed contest.”

The deputy pulled over both drivers and cited each for racing, a type of reckless driving, which is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.

The other driver pleaded guilty and was ordered to spend one day on a work crew.

Our client said he wasn’t racing and wanted to take the case to trial, and as Haggerty told jurors during opening statements, the state would not be able to prove the elements of the crime. 

The only witness was the former sheriff’s deputy, whose report was only four sentences long. The former deputy didn’t give additional details to the jury and didn’t even recall much from the October incident.

The client testified that he hadn’t been speeding or racing and that his vehicle can’t even accelerate quickly.

 The jury needed only about 25 minutes to deliberate before returning the not-guilty verdict.