This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Just hours before a Salt Lake City man accused of molesting a 9-year-old girl was scheduled to stand trial Wednesday, the case against him was dismissed.
Prosecutors, who filed the motion, cited "evidentiary problems" in the case but declined to elaborate.
Geoff Squier, 43, was arrested in February, three months after he had stayed at the home of the girl to watch her while her sister and parents were on vacation. Police said Squier sexually abused the girl several times, in a bedroom and a bathroom.
He was charged with four first-degree felonies: two counts of sodomy on a child and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
But Squier's defense attorney Steven Shapiro said the alleged abuse simply didn't happen.
"We were ready to go to trial, to fight the case," Shapiro said Wednesday. "As a defense lawyer, you like to have something a little better than, 'It didn't happen.' But it didn't."
Prosecutors said they will not be pursuing anything further in this case in the near future.
Shapiro will push to have the case dismissed with prejudice, meaning the case will be closed and not subject to further action.
Twitter: marissa_jae