EPHRATA - A Moses Lake man was acquitted after being accused of molesting his granddaughter.

A Grant County jury found Kevin P. Dunn, 51, not guilty of child molestation in first degree after a recent trial in superior court, according to court records.

Dunn was accused of the crime based on a September 2010 report by the Grant County Sheriff's Office. The 3-year-old girl involved in the case was left at Dunn's house for a few hours. When her grandmother picked her up again, the girl reportedly said she was bleeding.

The girl's grandmother reported finding blood in the girl's underwear, according to the police report.

Defense attorney John Luke McKean explained the case had a lot of background noise, including drug use, the arrest of the girl's parents and a dysfunctional family.

"The grandfather was the stable one of this scattered and dysfunctional family," he said. "He had raised this girl as a father."

McKean presented evidence from experts showing the blood likely came from an accidental injury and wasn't the result of sexual molestation. He said when the family took the girl in to be examined the police, the family and the doctors were expecting to find sexual abuse, so they found sexual abuse.

The police report stated the pediatrics department at Sacred Heart Medical Center said there was a "concern of sexual abuse," according to the police report.

"It was a typical accidental injury that happens when a girl falls on something hard," McKean said. "It highlights a problem in the field of sexual molestation (investigations.) People's fears will often take over."

When police questioned the girl she named three possible suspects including Dunn, McKean said. When the girl was interviewed further she couldn't provide a detailed description of what happened.

The police report also stated the girl accused her grandfather's girlfriend and her mother's boyfriend of abuse.

An expert also pointed out flaws in how police interviewed the girl. McKean said police pressured the girl into giving them the information they wanted.

"This case was a real instructive case on how little children can be led to give answers when something didn't happen," he said. "Questioning little kids is difficult and can be very problematic."

Dunn is beginning to return to his life, McKean said. What really hurt the man was it tore his family apart. The girl is now living with her father.

"It isn't just the threat of false conviction. It's just his life was ripped apart," McKean said.  

The Columbia Basin Herald attempted to reach Prosecutor Angus Lee, but he did not respond.