It’s clear that a two-year-old Cass County girl was brutally attacked by a dog last April, but it’s now legally unclear which dog did it.

“Again, I’ve done this for 35 years and you know there’s plenty of surprises, I’ve been involved in over 200 jury trials but his was one of the most surprising results I’ve ever seen,” said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz. “You’ve got a dog that’s literally covered or has abundant amount of victim’s blood on them, and yet the jury decided it was not guilty regard to the bite cases.”

A three day trial ended Thursday morning with a jury of six unanimously deciding that a dog named Kryptonite didn’t do it.

Kryptonite has already been put to sleep by the county for his suspected involvement in a mauling.

“And I wasn't there, I didn't see what happened, but from all the evidence I was shown, is said it wasn’t my dog,” said Justin Smith just minutes after he was found not guilty of three misdemeanor dog bite counts and one count of interfering with an investigation.

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The verdict is in, and open to interpretation. “In any jury trial it's not beyond a possible doubt it’s beyond a reasonable doubt and there was some speculative information there about another dog possibly being there, we certainly didn't give it any credence,” said Prosecutor Fitz.

While it’s clear somebody’s dog attacked Arial Harrison and left permanent and devastating damage, it’s now legally clear it wasn’t Justin Smith’s dog Kryptonite.

“This case was about who did it,” said Defense Attorney Edwin Johnson III. “I understand that there was a horrendously injured little girl. She lives in my community, I have grandchildren in that community, and what happened here was a dog who didn't commit the act, was put down before we could even introduce anything about it into evidence and a dog that committed this attack is still running around my community.”

For his part, Justin Smith admits he isn’t the perfect dog owner. He pleaded guilty to seven other misdemeanor dog ordinance violations before he went to trial to challenge those that suggested his dog attacked Arial Harrison and two others.

Among the admitted violations were failure to license and vaccinate a pet. Smith could still receive jail time when sentenced in February.

A dog owner has been found not guilty after

"Kryptonite," a pit bull, was euthanized several days after the attack.

The dog's owner, 21-year-old Justin Smith, faced misdemeanor dog bite charges, but a jury found him not guilty.

Kryptonite's culpability wasn't proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court. Some of the people at the scene of the attack told police at the time that they had the wrong dog,

The same message was sent by the jury.

"I understand that there was a horrendously injured little girl," said defense attorney Edwin Johnson III. "She lives in my community. I have grandchildren in that community. What happened here is a dog, who didn't commit the act, was put down before we could even introduce anything about it into evidence. A dog that committed this attack is still running around my community."

"Neighbors kept my dog for when I got down there. Every time I asked the family for a statement about what happened, it was always a different story," the dog's owner said.

"I've done this for 35 years. There's plenty of surprises; I've been involved in well over 200 jury trials, but this one was one of the most surprising results," said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz. "You've got a dog that's literally covered, has an abundant amount of the victim's blood on them, and yet the jury decided it was not guilty in regard to the bite cases. We move forward."

Then-1-year-old Arial Harrison suffered the worst injuries in the attack. She lost most of her scalp and both of her ears in the attack and was said to be living from surgery to surgery.

Arial’s then-6-year-old brother was bitten once on each arm and required five stitches. A grandmother who tried to protect both children suffered dog bites doing so.

The incident happened on a spring Sunday in April of 2017. The children were out playing on a trampoline in their grandmother’s yard when the dog approached.