Special prosecutor set for teen assault case
MARYVILLE, Mo. – A northwest Missouri prosecutor said Wednesday that he’s asking for a special prosecutor to look at the case of a 14-year-old girl who says she was plied with alcohol and raped by a 17-year-old acquaintance.
The announcement from Nodaway County prosecutor Robert Rice came amid increased scrutiny in recent days over how he handled the case.
Melinda Coleman, the mother of 14-year-old Daisy Coleman, claims justice was denied when Rice dropped felony charges against the 17-year-old boy in March 2012, two months after Coleman found her daughter passed out on the family’s front porch in below-freezing temperatures. The mother also has said the family had to move from the town of Maryville because of harassment over the allegations.
The county sheriff and Rice have insisted their investigation collapsed after the Colemans became uncooperative with investigators and refused to answer questions. Coleman says she and her daughter did cooperate and that investigators didn’t do enough to push the case forward.
Arlington Cemetery eases mementos rules
ARLINGTON, Va. – Arlington National Cemetery is relaxing its policies to allow family members of those buried in its section for those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave behind small mementos and photos to honor those soldiers, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Section 60 is the part of the cemetery that is home to most of those killed in recent fighting.
Families in that section had been leaving stones, photos and other mementos at their loved ones’ gravesites, even though cemetery policy strictly regulates such impromptu memorials.
Responding to complaints, cemetery staff cleaned out some of those memorials recently. Then families who had left the mementos complained about their removal.
Patrick Hallinan is the executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries and Arlington National Cemetery. He met with Section 60 families on Oct. 6, and worked out a compromise that will allow displays through the fall and winter months.
Associated Press
