WARSAW — Much of the afternoon was spent going over digital evidence during the jury trial against Jeff Haney on Tuesday, April 11. Haney is being charged with child molesting, a level C felony. The case was filed in 2013, accusing Haney of molesting a 12-year-old girl in 2011.

Jeff Haney

After the morning’s jury selection, the trial continued with opening statements.

Kosciusko County Deputy Prosecutor Katy Hampton presented the state’s opening statement. She went over the timeline of Haney’s relationship with the victim. The two first met when Haney was employed by the victim’s parents. Their relationship developed overtime and eventually resulted in the two claiming they were in love.

“Jeff Haney made himself a trusted friend of the family and used that relationship to groom [the victim],” said Hampton.

Attorney Joseph Sobek then took the stand on behalf of the defense. Sobek stated the two did have a friendship and communicated with each other. But he argued that there was no evidence to back up the claims of a physical relationship.

“At the end of the day, this is a he said, she said case,” said Sobek.

The first witness called to the stand by the state was a classmate and mentor to the victim. This mentor was the first person the victim told about the alleged physical relationship. The mentor explained that the two had met when they both were students at Lakeland Christian Academy and the friendship transformed as the witness became a spiritual mentor to the victim.

The two would meet weekly for Bible study, where they would regularly talk about life and relationships. It was at one of these sessions that the victim told her mentor about the relationship with Haney. At this point, the relationship had been over for almost two years. After doing research about the statue of limitation, the mentor convinced the victim to tell her parents about the relationship.

The next witness called to the stand was Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Detective J.D. Ayres. Ayers was the detective who took the victim’s cell phone as evidence. Screenshots were taken of a conversations between Haney and the victim that were communicated through text messages, emails and Facebook. Over 1,000 screenshots were taken as evidence.

The last witness of the day was the victim herself. She explained to the court how the relationship with Haney developed over a period of time.

“It was casual at the beginning,” said the victim. “It grew into something much more serious.”

The victim explained how the two would communicate on different platforms frequently. The two would also have phone call conversations after she got home from school before her parents came home. According to the victim, their conversations would often include talk of moving in together, getting married and having children.

Some conversations were presented to the court as evidence to the relationship. In the conversations, the two would use the acronyms “ILY” and “IMY” during their conversations to say I love you and I miss you. In one message presented as evidence Haney wrote, “Be careful getting home! I love you [victim]! Missing you too! You’re so cute!”

The two would also meet in secret on several occasions. They would talk together, make-out and once Haney kissed her breasts.

The court then recessed for the day before the defense was able to cross-examination the witness. The trial will continue tomorrow, April 12 with the state calling any remaining witnesses followed by the defense presenting any evidence. The trial will then conclude with closing statements and jury deliberation.

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