Attorney Zeed Meyer won a Clark County District Court trial March 9 for a client charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

Based on police reports, this did not appear to be a strong case for the defense: a woman called 911 to report that she woke up to her boyfriend pulling down her pants; her wrists had been in restraints. A responding officer photographed her bloody lip, which she said was caused by her boyfriend stuffing a pair of underwear in her mouth. She also said her boyfriend headbutted her, and, after the restraints were removed, pushed her to the ground during an argument.

So how did Meyer get a “not guilty” verdict, which was reached by the Clark County District Court jury after 20 minutes of deliberations?

Attorney Ross Meyers picked up a quick victory this week in Clark County District Court, as a jury deliberated only 15 minutes before unanimously voting to acquit his client of hit-and-run of an unattended vehicle. 

Meyers’ client, who has no criminal history, could have faced up to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay an $1,000 fine if he had been convicted of hit and run unattended, a misdemeanor.

The owner of a damaged 2001 Honda Accord said she was out of town when her vehicle, which she had left parked on the street outside her West Minnehaha neighborhood home, was hit. She came home to discover that the front bumper on the driver’s side had been smashed in, and the headlight broken.

Attorney Katie Kauffman won a trial on Jan. 11 in Clark County District Court for a client charged with assaulting his wife.

An assistant city attorney took the case to trial despite the alleged victim making it clear that her husband had been very drunk, she’d been injured by accident and she wanted the assault charge dropped.

An assistant city attorney argued he should be able to let the jury know that Kauffman’s client had prior convictions for assault. Kauffman won that argument, however. Judge Chad Sleight said the jury wouldn’t hear about her client’s criminal history unless her client testified and made a statement (such as, “I would never hit anyone on purpose,”) that the prosecutor could then challenge by asking about past convictions.

Kauffman’s client did not testify during the one-day trial.

Attorney Grant Cole won a DUI trial recently in Clark County District Court. His client had refused to take a breath test, so he was facing a mandatory yearlong suspension of his driver’s license in addition to any jail sentence he may have received had he been convicted.

Driving under the influence, a gross misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail.

Cole’s client was pulled over by a Vancouver police officer late one night because he had expired tabs and, according to the officer, had taken a wide turn onto Mill Plain Boulevard and then overcorrected to avoid hitting a curb. 

The officer testified that our client’s eyes were bloodshot and he could smell the odor of alcohol, but he wasn’t confident he had had probable cause to arrest him for DUI. He knew that a Washington State Patrol trooper, a certified expert at administering roadside field sobriety tests, was on duty and nearby, so he asked for him to come to the scene.

Attorney Tim Murphy won a dismissal this week for a client, whose trial on a theft charge came to an abrupt end when the state’s only witness, a Wal-Mart security officer, admitted that the store may have actually overcharged the defendant.

Murphy’s client was cited in June 2016 for stealing $21 worth of merchandise from Wal-Mart. She was charged with theft in the third degree, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.

The case dragged on for 17 months. At one point the city of Vancouver dismissed it, but then decided to refile the charge.

Attorney Gregger Highberg won a not-guilty verdict this week in Clark County District Court for a client charged with assaulting his grandmother.

Based on the 911 call alone, the evidence seemed to favor the prosecution. Both the grandmother and her daughter (the client’s mother) sounded scared during the 911 call, which was played twice during the Nov. 15 trial. The grandmother says her grandson won’t leave, and “I want him arrested, he’s in here badgering me, abusing me, and everything else to me, and I want him outta my house, I want him arrested.” Her daughter gets on the phone with the emergency dispatcher, says her mother needs to go to the hospital and can be heard saying, “Don’t touch her, don’t touch her!”

Responding deputies from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office noted in reports that our client appeared intoxicated and they could smell alcohol emanating from him. They also noted, however, that the grandmother didn’t have any visible injuries.

Attorney Hannah McCausland won an assault trial Oct. 20 in Clark County District Court, successfully arguing to the jury that her client exercised “reasonable parental discipline,” in slapping his son on the face. Her client said he panicked when his 2½-year-old son ran across a parking lot toward a busy intersection.

Under state law, physical discipline of a child “is not unlawful when it is reasonable and moderate and is inflicted by a parent, teacher or guardian for purposes of restraining or correcting the child.” The law also says that the “age, size and condition of the child and the location of the injury shall be considered when determining whether the bodily harm is reasonable or moderate.”

McCausland’s client was arrested after witnesses, a mother and her 12-year-old daughter, reported him to police. The witnesses were at a laundromat and saw McCausland’s client outside with his son. The daughter said she saw the dad snatch the boy off the ground and put him in his car seat, but didn’t see what happened before he picked up his son. The daughter got her mother’s attention, and when the mother turned around she saw the dad, who had his back to her, making a motion with his arm as though he was slapping his son.

Attorney Neil Anderson won an acquittal this week in Clark County Superior Court, sparing his client from a mandatory prison sentence that would have been handed down had he been convicted of unlawful imprisonment, a felony.

While the 12-person jury found Anderson’s client not guilty of the felony charge, it was unable to reach an verdict on a charge of misdemeanor assault. 

A deputy prosecutor told Superior Court Judge Bernard Veljacic after the verdicts was read and the jurors had left the courtroom that she’ll likely be asking for a new trial on the assault charge.

Ten of the 12 jurors stayed behind to speak to Anderson and the deputy prosecutor. They said the vote on the assault charge was 11 to 1 in favor of “not guilty.”