Missouri Lieutenant Governor Calls For Grand Jury In Daisy Coleman Teen Rape Case

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder has called for the state’s attorney general to revisit the Maryville, Mo., sexual assault case that has sparked Internet outrage after the rapes of two teenage girls went unpunished.

The hactivist collective Anonymous has worked to publicize the case of 14-year-old Maryville, Mo. resident Daisy Coleman, who along with a 13-year-old friend, was raped at a high school party and left on her front porch in the freezing cold overnight. Though her rapist later confessed, all charges against him were dismissed without a trial. A Kansas City Star investigative report spurred the organization into action, targeting top Missouri officials online with the Twitter hashtags #OpMaryville and #Justice4Daisy.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kinder responded to outage over the Daisy Coleman case, tweeting out a statement that called for the state’s attorney general to reopen the case.

Read Kinder’s full response below.

Since Sunday I have read with growing dismay the media accounts of the Daisy Coleman case in Nodaway County. I make no claim to knowledge of all the facts. Still, facts revealed in exhaustive media reports, including the 4,000-word piece in the Kansas City Star, raise all kinds of questions that it is now clear won’t be put to rest.

These questions will fester and taint the reputation of our state for delivering impartial justice to all.

I am disappointed that the Attorney General would wash his hands of the matter through a brief statement by a spokesman. The appalling facts in the public record shock the conscience and cry out that responsible authorities must take another look. I call on Attorney General Koster and Prosecutor Rice to join me in asking that the Circuit Court convene a grand jury to review all the evidence, hear all witnesses, and issue a decision as to whether charges should ensue.

I hope that responsible officials will join me in this call for a grand jury to make the final call on whether criminal charges should or should not be filed.