Congratulations to Ryan Lhotsky on another DV Trial Win!

Our client faced a Harassment charge carrying a potential jail sentence of up to six months, arising from a physical altercation with her sister. Attorney Ryan Lhotsky waived jury and presented the case to the judge, securing a full Not Guilty verdict on the basis of self-defense.

The alleged victim claimed that our client grabbed her hair and pulled her to the ground without provocation. Our client maintained that she had not been the aggressor — that she had acted only in response to being attacked.

The case turned on cross-examination. Ryan methodically questioned the alleged victim about the sequence of events, and the victim admitted that she had lunged at our client first. It was only at that point that our client grabbed her hair. That admission was fatal to the prosecution's case.

The judge ruled that our client had acted in self-defense and returned a Not Guilty verdict.

This case demonstrates that the order of events in an altercation matters enormously under the law. What the prosecution frames as an assault can look very different when the full sequence of events is established. Ryan Lhotsky's precise and effective cross-examination produced the critical admission that won this case.