Special prosecutor requested over Maryville rape claims

A Missouri prosecutor, who has faced criticism over his handling of rape allegations made by a 14-year-old girl, asked on Wednesday for a special prosecutor to decide if new charges should be filed.

Nodaway County Prosecutor Bob Rice had said he dropped the case — which stemmed from a January 2012 party in Maryville, Mo., where a girl says she was raped by a 17-year-old acquaintance — because there was not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

But Melinda Coleman, the mother of 14-year-old Daisy Coleman, claims justice was denied when Rice dropped felony charges in March 2012, two months after she says her daughter was plied with alcohol, raped, then dumped on the family's front porch in sub-freezing temperatures.

Al Jazeera America does not normally name victims of sexual assault, but in the Maryville case the families of Daisy Coleman and a second accuser have granted public interviews.

Rice insists the investigation collapsed after the Colemans became uncooperative with investigators. Melinda Coleman says she and her daughter did cooperate and that investigators didn't do enough to push the case forward.

Coleman says her family was forced to leave the small northwest Missouri town of Maryville after they were harassed over the allegations.

A months-long investigation of the case published Sunday in the Kansas City Star focused national attention on Maryville. Online activist group Anonymous demanded authorities investigate the handling of the case.

Earlier this week, a second victim, Paige Parkhurst, also spoke out about the alleged assault.

Rice on Wednesday stood by his earlier statements, saying he's only asking for a special prosecutor because of recent media stories that questioned the integrity of the county's justice system.

The alleged assault happened in January 2012, after Daisy and a 13-year-old friend left the Colemans' house in the middle of the night to meet some boys.

Daisy said the boys gave her alcohol, and she doesn't remember much of what happened next. Another 17-year-old allegedly videotaped the incident involving Daisy on a cellphone. Daisy's 13-year-old friend also said she was forced to have sex with a 15-year-old. The boys said the sex was consensual.

The 15-year-old was charged in the juvenile system. Charges against the 17-year-old accused of recording the incident were dropped in March 2012.

The boys involved in the case are not being identified by name because there are no active charges against them.

Melinda Coleman did not return phone calls seeking comment after Rice's announcement. But in an interview with The Associated Press earlier Wednesday, Coleman insisted she would help investigators in any way she could, even if the case never made it to trial.

"I think just having it looked at fairly and having other people know how much we were bullied goes a long way. Even if that's all that ever comes out of it," she said. "That may be enough to move on and have some peace and some security."

Coleman said her daughter made some mistakes, but that she was still the victim.

"She shouldn't have snuck out of the house. She shouldn't have drank. But I think a lot of 14-year-olds do that, and I'm sick of people saying she deserves this," Coleman said.

Watch Al Jazeera's interview with the second alleged Maryville victim

The case has drawn comparisons to one in Steubenville, Ohio, where two 17-year-old high school football players were convicted of raping a West Virginia girl after an alcohol-fueled party in 2012. The case was furiously debated online and led to allegations of a cover-up to protect the city's celebrated football team.

Officials in Maryville say they've had to increase police patrols because of threats made against residents and the city in general.

However, Coleman said the harassment her family faced was from just a few residents, mainly friends and family members of the boys accused, and that she otherwise liked Maryville.

Al Jazeera and wire services