ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Timothy P. Broden Gregory F. Zoeller
Lafayette, Indiana Attorney General of Indiana
James B. Martin
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
______________________________________________________________________________
In the
Indiana Supreme Court Jan 20 2016, 2:09 pm
_________________________________
No. 79S02-1601-CR-28
KASTIN E. SLAYBAUGH,
Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE OF INDIANA,
Appellee (Plaintiff below).
_________________________________
Appeal from the Tippecanoe Superior Court, No. 79D02-1401-FB-01
The Honorable Thomas H. Busch, Judge
_________________________________
On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 79A02-1411-CR-798
_________________________________
January 20, 2016
Per Curiam.
After Kastin Slaybaugh was convicted of rape, he moved for mistrial on grounds there
had been juror misconduct. His motion asserted that in voir dire, a juror had denied knowing the
victim or her family, but Slaybaugh discovered that a relative of the victim was a “Facebook
friend” of that juror. The trial court ordered the juror deposed. The juror testified she was a
realtor, had more than 1000 “friends” on Facebook—most of whom she had “friended” for
networking purposes—but she had not recognized the victim’s name during voir dire, did not
recognize the victim when she testified, and did not know the victim or her family. The trial
court determined that the juror had been truthful when answering that she had no knowledge of
the victim or her family, and denied Slaybaugh’s motion for mistrial. Noting the novel issue
involving a juror’s “expansive list of Facebook friends,” the Court of Appeals affirmed in
Slaybaugh v. State, ___ N.E.3d ___, ___, 2015 WL 5612205, *1 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015).
We agree with the result reached by the Court of Appeals, grant transfer, expressly adopt
and incorporate by reference the Court of Appeals opinion in accordance with Indiana Appellate
Rule 58(A)(1), and affirm the trial court.
All Justices concur.
2