DISCLAIMER: I received permission from my client before posting this video. All parties involved will remain unnamed.
In the video above, you can clearly see my client hit the other man first. At first glance this fact might make it seem like my client was obviously guilty. In order to win this case, I pursued an affirmative defense of self-defense. The commonly held understanding of self-defense is that in most cases self-defense requires the opposing party to physically contact the client first. However, by showing that my client was expecting imminent bodily harm from the other man I was able to make the case for self-defense.
This defense was bolstered by the two men’s positions at about 57 seconds into the video. Like cowboys in an old western, they were posturing for a conflict and from there it was simply the matter of making the point that my client was acting with reasonable preemption to avoid harm to his person. Had the fight escalated further this defense may not have been effective. Given that the video shows my client moving to disable the other man and then leaving allowed me to argue a form of preemptive strike self-defense.
As a result of this defense, I was able to have my client’s attorney’s fees paid by the state of Washington.