
(AP) – A modest crowd of a few hundred, many holding clusters of daisies, braved chilly conditions to show support for a northwest Missouri teen whose sexual assault case has drawn worldwide attention.
A rally organized over the Internet for Daisy Coleman drew mostly locals and college students who gathered on Maryville’s courthouse square to hear speakers talk about sexual abuse of women, with Daisy as the focal point.
The girl says she was 14 when a 17-year-old Maryville boy gave her alcohol and then sexually abused her in January 2012. Felony charges against him and a second 17-year-old were dropped months later after Nodaway County prosecutor Robert Rice said there wasn’t enough evidence to get a conviction.
The prosecutor’s handling of the case, detailed in a Kansas City Star article earlier this month, sparked an outcry over social media. Rice last week asked for a special prosecutor to take a new look at the case, and on Monday Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker was given the assignment.