Robbinsville – Four days into the trial of an area man accused of three sex charges, testimony continues in Graham County Superior Court.
As of Tuesday, the prosecution in the trial of Casey Adam Haney continued to call witnesses. Haney faces two counts of indecent liberties with a child, and one count of statutory rape of a person 15 years old or younger by a person more than six years older than the victim.
At the time of the most recent allegations on Feb. 4, 2018, the female victim was 14 years old. One charge of indecent liberties and the statutory rape charge stem from the alleged February 2018 incident, while the remaining indecent liberties incident allegedly took place at some point in 2017.
The February 2018 incident allegedly took place in a home on Honeysuckle Ridge Road in the Almond community in Graham County.
The prosecution has called several witnesses – including the victim herself, who described the alleged incidents. Others to take the witness stand as of Monday included the victim’s mother and younger brother, as well as those who responded after the alleged incidents were reported, those who handled evidence collected from the February 2018 incident and two friends of the victim.
Both during her testimony in court and during a recorded forensic interview played for the jury, the victim alleged other cases where Haney threatened her and her family, and was repeatedly violent toward her in both sexual and non-sexual manners.
Authorities were notified after a friend of the victim told her adoptive parents, prompting both the Graham County Department of Social Services and the Graham County Sheriff’s Office personnel to come to the victim’s home on the night of Feb. 6, 2018, to discuss the allegations and transport the victim to Asheville for forensic testing.
On Tuesday, Buncombe County Medical Examiner Amanda Staton testified as an expert witness.
While employed as a forensic nurse at Mission Hospital in Asheville on Feb. 7, 2018, Staton performed a sexual assault forensic exam on the victim. She discussed the examination and said that she found no obvious physical signs of sexual assault in her examination of the victim’s genitalia, or elsewhere on her body.
However, she emphasized that it did not necessarily mean that the victim was not sexually assaulted.
The jury was also shown evidence collected from the scene, including a hoodie and pajama pants the victim allegedly wore during the incident, as well as a sheet taken from her bed.
Additionally, the victim’s sexual assault kit was opened Tuesday.
Haney is represented by attorney Michael Fox of Bryson City. The prosecution includes Assistant District 43 attorneys Jeff Jones and John Hindsman. Superior Court District 30 Judge William Coward is presiding.
Opening statements in the trial took place July 15, with the first witness being called the same day.
Jury selection for the trial took nearly two days, with the original pool of prospective jurors running short as the morning of July 14 drew to a close.
A second jury pool made up of people who had not responded to their original summons had to be hastily assembled that afternoon to fill out the jury.