Hundreds of people attended a protest seeking justice for Daily Coleman, who her supporters say was raped by Matthew Barnett and left out in 22 degree weather in front of her house in January of 2012. Nodaway County Prosecutor Robert Rice declined to prosecute the case, which triggered allegations of impropriety. Barnett is the grandson of former State Representative and Highway Patrolman Rex Barnett. Barnett was 17 and Coleman 14 at the time. The case triggered a national uproar following a recent piece by the Kansas City Star, the cumulation of a long investigation by that paper. It resulted in attacks from the hacktivist group Anonymous, including a twitterstorm, massive negative reviews and harassing phone calls directed at Maryville businesses, and Rex Barnett's personal information being posted on Twitter.
The case received attention from national media and there were many media trucks camped out on the Nodaway County Square last week. CNN was there, along with several Kansas City TV trucks and camera crews. At Tuesday night's protest, ABC and FOX News were there and a news helicopter from KMBC Channel 9 flew overhead to film the protest. Many other TV crews were there as well.
As a result of the uproar, Prosecutor Rice requested Judge Glenn Dietrich to appoint another prosecutor to look at the case, which Judge Dietrich has done. However, the protest went on as scheduled, with organizers wanting to raise awareness of rape and attacking what they called the "rape culture" they say is much too common in the country.
The protest was one of the biggest protests in Nodaway County history, with people numbering in the hundreds. It was, however, peaceful and very short-lived in duration. Organizers were handing out daisies for people to hold and some people came dressed in Anonymous masks. Many came out of curiousity and some were opposed to the protest. But everyone was respectful towards the speakers. There were a lot of people who came from out of the area; however, there were a lot of local people as well. The event attracted a lot of young people.
Protests have been relatively rare in the history of the area. A small protest was held on the Grant City Square in 2005 protesting the Iraq War, which was at its height. In the 1990's, near Maloy, protestors locked the gate of a CAFO in protest and drew national attention.
Richard Boyden is a journalist and radio talk show host out of Independence. He said he was a friend of Melinda Coleman and a Marine and Vietnam Vet. He said that there had been threats made against the Colemans to the extent that some of his Marine friends were protecting them. He said that the protests were a "visible expression" in peoples' belief in Barnett's guilt. He told the Express he was there because he "didn't like the idea of a girl being brutally raped and the perpetrator being protected by the Sheriff and Prosecutor."
Teresa (Farrell) Hughes, a Worth County grad, is a student at Northwest who is studying child and family studies and learning about how to care for the elderly. For her, the learning process never stops. She said that she was there because Daisy Coleman deserved her day in court. "A 14 year old child does not always make the best decisions, but she didn't deserve to be raped," she said. "I hear talk that this ruined a whole lot of peoples' lives, but crimes were committed and justice needs to be served."
Dave McGlaughlin, a retired professor at Northwest, said that he was there because it was the "right thing to do." "I don't know why things weren't done," he said to the Express. "Something horrible happened and we didn't address it. I hope that we can address these issues in the future."
Herb Petty of Atlanthus Grove said that he was there because it was a clear-cut case of miscarrage of justice. "There was law, a confession, and medical evidence on Daisy's side, but it was a real letdown that justice was not done," he said. "It's great that people came to demand justice and it's sad that it took a vigil to get something done." Petty said that he hoped that the protest would serve as a blueprint for future actions given its peaceful nature. "I don't know what the outcome of this case will be, but I want to know why this happened. I want to know what evidence Rice thought he needed before he decided to prosecute." Petty said that there was a double standard given his personal experience. He said that the City of Maryville attemped to prosecute him for littering when he slipped a proof of insurance under the prosecutor's door after he was ticketed for that. The charges were subsequently dropped. The City of Maryville was not involved with the prosecution of Barnett.
The protest itself consisted of speeches and a brief candlelight vigil afterwards. Courtney Cole, the organizer of the protest, said that no victim of rape should be told that it was their fault. She decried what she called the "sheer outrageousness" of the situation and said that it was a matter of treating all people with respect. She said that Daisy Coleman's case was not unique and that thousands of Missourians were sexually assaulted every year. She said that the job was not done with organizing the protest and said that the next step was to support victim services groups and stop blaming the victim in the event of rape or sexual assault.
Claire Major of the National Organization of Women noted that 100 years ago, a band led by Nodaway County's own Elaina Nash went to a national suffrage parade as women were fighting for the right to vote. She decried the "rape culture" and said that things like that don't "just happen." She encouraged people to stop "rape jokes" and to "stand up for victims and stop blaming them."
Boyden also spoke; he said that in his own experience, his mother had once been brutally raped. "It's like a spiritual bullet to a woman and one of the most insidious, evil crimes a man can commit." "And then to be targeted with hate, it moved her to twice attempt suicide." He said that even if the perpetrators got away with it in this lifetime, they would not get away with it in the eternal realm.
Many people came simply because they were curious. Rep. Jim Neely of Cameron ran for State Senate as a Democrat but then successfully ran for House as a Republican. He put it as simply as possible -- "I'm here to find out the truth." He said that one's party didn't matter and that "right is right and wrong is wrong." He said that it was important for every courthouse to evaluate what they were doing and figure out how they can do things better.
But not everyone agreed with the aims of the protesters. Josh Wagner, a graduate of Worth County, asked why this was being brought up again after almost two years. "The media is blowing this out of proportion," he said. "This should have been left in the past. This should have been over and done with."
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