Filed Tuesday, February 10, 2026 by Vancouver Defenders
Katie Kauffman won a misdemeanor assault case January 28, 2026, in Clark County District Court.
The jury also found that her client had acted in self-defense, which means the state must reimburse him for attorney fees and other costs associated with being charged with a crime.
The client’s ex-girlfriend had told several versions of the supposed assault – including new details she first shared while on the witness stand -- but was credible only in the eyes of the Clark County Sheriff’s deputy who arrested Kauffman’s client and the Clark County deputy prosecutor who took the case to trial.
The jury needed only 25 minutes to reach a verdict.
Kauffman’s client was charged with assault in the fourth-degree domestic violence, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. A conviction would have also cost him his job as a government contractor.
He was arrested in late 2024 after his then-girlfriend called 911 and said she had got into a fight with him.
The client testified at trial that she attacked him, and he only was holding her down so she would stop. He also testified that he told the police she had attacked him and threatened him with a firearm, which was in her purse. Deputies did absolutely nothing with that information, jurors heard.
The alleged victim’s recollection of events just got wilder each time she told it. She told a 911 dispatcher that he held her by her head and pinned her to the ground. During a pre-trial interview she said she was choked and hit. At trial, she said she was “pistol whipped” and then her ex hid the gun.
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