Warsaw Man Found Not Guilty Of Molesting 13-Year-Old Girl
April 13, 2017 at 9:49 p.m.
By Michael [email protected]
Jeff Haney, 52, was accused of kissing and fondling a 13-year-old girl in 2012.
After about two hours, a jury of nine men and three women delivered the not guilty verdict. Haney cried and hugged his lawyer and family.
“I put my trust in Christ,” Haney said afterward.
During closing arguments, Haney’s lawyer, Joe Sobek, argued the state had no evidence of molestation.
“The state has gone to great lengths to make Jeff look like a bad guy,” Sobek said.
One of the things Sobek argued was that prosecutors took Haney’s taped interview with police out of context.
During Haney’s statement to police, he admitted the relationship with the girl “was a friendship, then it escalated.”
He also said the girl’s parents fired him from the family-owned business due to “our feelings for each other.” He said he held hands with her but denied making out or fondling her.
Just as Haney was about to explain what he meant, the tape of his police interview cut off.
Former Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Detective J.D. Ayers said the recording equipment was malfunctioning that day. The police were able to recover a portion of the interview but not the entire conversation.
Sobek argued it was suspicious that the tape would cut off right off as Haney was trying to explain something.
“What in that interview does the state not want you to see?” Sobek asked the jury.
Haney met the girl back in 2010 while he was working for her parents’ business. The two became close and would hold hands and message each other in 2011 and 2012. Haney was arrested in 2013. The case was delayed several times.
During her testimony on Tuesday, the girl testified that their close friendship turned romantic and she would meet with Haney and make out with him. One time he fondled her breast and another time he put his hands down her back, she said.
Sobek questioned the girl’s credibility, saying her claim that Haney put his hands on her back was not in her earlier sworn statements.
“She came up with a new accusation of inappropriate touching the day of the trial,” Sobek said.
Sobek also pointed to the girl’s claim that she was depressed when she met Haney and shocked the first time she saw him. Neither of those statements appeared in her disposition, Sobek said,
Sobek challenged the timing of the accusation, arguing the girl didn’t tell anyone until she confided in a spiritual mentor, Aly Slaybaugh Obsorne, 1-1/2 years after the girl stopped talking to Haney.
Obsorne and the girl were discussing relationships and ex-boyfriends and the girl told the story to make it seem she was more grown up, Sobek said.
Sobek also argued the girl’s story didn’t make sense. The girl said they would make out near a church in the middle of the day.
“The state would have you believe Jeff is so dumb that he did this in a public area in broad daylight with people driving by,” Sobek said.
Sobek argued Ayers didn’t obtain security cameras from nearby stores. He didn’t even go ask, he just assumed the tape didn’t exist, he said.
Ayers said that based on his experience, stores don’t keep footage for more than six months, so he didn’t ask.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Katy Hampton argued that the messages and Haney’s statement to police backed up the teenager’s story.
The messages that were extracted from the girl’s phone showed Haney and the girl had a close relationship.
In text messages to each other, Haney said how much he missed the girl and he loved her and he couldn’t wait to see her. Haney told the girl they weren’t doing anything and people should mind “their business,” Hampton said,
“Is this an appropriate way for a 46-year-old man to talk to a 13-year-old girl?” Hampton asked the jury.
She argued Hanley admitted to everything but the kissing and the fondling, including secretly meeting with the girl after her parents had told them not to contact each other.
Sobek argued the messages didn’t prove a crime was committed.
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Jeff Haney, 52, was accused of kissing and fondling a 13-year-old girl in 2012.
After about two hours, a jury of nine men and three women delivered the not guilty verdict. Haney cried and hugged his lawyer and family.
“I put my trust in Christ,” Haney said afterward.
During closing arguments, Haney’s lawyer, Joe Sobek, argued the state had no evidence of molestation.
“The state has gone to great lengths to make Jeff look like a bad guy,” Sobek said.
One of the things Sobek argued was that prosecutors took Haney’s taped interview with police out of context.
During Haney’s statement to police, he admitted the relationship with the girl “was a friendship, then it escalated.”
He also said the girl’s parents fired him from the family-owned business due to “our feelings for each other.” He said he held hands with her but denied making out or fondling her.
Just as Haney was about to explain what he meant, the tape of his police interview cut off.
Former Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Detective J.D. Ayers said the recording equipment was malfunctioning that day. The police were able to recover a portion of the interview but not the entire conversation.
Sobek argued it was suspicious that the tape would cut off right off as Haney was trying to explain something.
“What in that interview does the state not want you to see?” Sobek asked the jury.
Haney met the girl back in 2010 while he was working for her parents’ business. The two became close and would hold hands and message each other in 2011 and 2012. Haney was arrested in 2013. The case was delayed several times.
During her testimony on Tuesday, the girl testified that their close friendship turned romantic and she would meet with Haney and make out with him. One time he fondled her breast and another time he put his hands down her back, she said.
Sobek questioned the girl’s credibility, saying her claim that Haney put his hands on her back was not in her earlier sworn statements.
“She came up with a new accusation of inappropriate touching the day of the trial,” Sobek said.
Sobek also pointed to the girl’s claim that she was depressed when she met Haney and shocked the first time she saw him. Neither of those statements appeared in her disposition, Sobek said,
Sobek challenged the timing of the accusation, arguing the girl didn’t tell anyone until she confided in a spiritual mentor, Aly Slaybaugh Obsorne, 1-1/2 years after the girl stopped talking to Haney.
Obsorne and the girl were discussing relationships and ex-boyfriends and the girl told the story to make it seem she was more grown up, Sobek said.
Sobek also argued the girl’s story didn’t make sense. The girl said they would make out near a church in the middle of the day.
“The state would have you believe Jeff is so dumb that he did this in a public area in broad daylight with people driving by,” Sobek said.
Sobek argued Ayers didn’t obtain security cameras from nearby stores. He didn’t even go ask, he just assumed the tape didn’t exist, he said.
Ayers said that based on his experience, stores don’t keep footage for more than six months, so he didn’t ask.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Katy Hampton argued that the messages and Haney’s statement to police backed up the teenager’s story.
The messages that were extracted from the girl’s phone showed Haney and the girl had a close relationship.
In text messages to each other, Haney said how much he missed the girl and he loved her and he couldn’t wait to see her. Haney told the girl they weren’t doing anything and people should mind “their business,” Hampton said,
“Is this an appropriate way for a 46-year-old man to talk to a 13-year-old girl?” Hampton asked the jury.
She argued Hanley admitted to everything but the kissing and the fondling, including secretly meeting with the girl after her parents had told them not to contact each other.
Sobek argued the messages didn’t prove a crime was committed.
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