Article picture: Left, Daisy Coleman. Right, Matthew Barnett. Image credit.
Daisy Coleman, a teenager from Mayrville, Missouri claims she was raped by then 17-year-old football player, Matthew Barnett in January of 2012. This case, like so many others, has startling similarities to the Steubenville case that swept the nation earlier this year. And, just like what happened in Steubenville, the aftermath of Daisy’s ordeal sparked a major controversy.
Normally, the identity of alleged rape victims are not to be disclosed to the public, but the Coleman family has made it known that they want their story to be heard.
The facts: Daisy, 14 at the time, and her 13-year-old friend were having a sleepover at the Coleman house the night of the alleged rape. Daisy had been texting Matt that night, and the two formed a plan: the girls would sneak out and Matt and his friend would come pick them up. They were taken to the Barnett home where many of the school’s most popular athletes were hanging out. The two girls had been drinking from a hidden stash of alcohol that night at Daisy’s house, and the boys offered them more. Daisy drank two large glasses of alcohol and doesn’t remember anything after that, though her friend declined and was able to give helpful information. Daisy was taken into another room where Barnett had sex with her and another boy, Jordan Zech, captured part of the incident on his IPhone. Her friend was also raped by a 15-year-old boy that night; the case was settled in juvenile court. Afterwards, the boys drove the two girls back to the Coleman house, where Daisy was left on her front porch in below-freezing temperatures. Later that night, after hearing scratching at the front door, Melinda Coleman, Daisy’s mother, found her daughter barely conscious, hair frozen by the frigid weather. After putting her daughter in a hot bath, she saw marks on her body, and knew something bad had happened.
After going to the ER the same night and having Daisy’s rape confirmed by a rape test kit, Barnett was arrested and charged with sexual assault and a misdemeanor charge for endangering the welfare of a minor. Barnett did admit to having sex with Daisy and knew she was intoxicated, but claimed it was consensual. The charges were eventually dropped in May 2012 due to a sudden lack of evidence, despite the video taken by Zech, which was apparently deleted, the interviews with the boys from that night, and the results of the rape kit. Daisy was harassed on social media sites and in person; she was also kicked off the cheerleading squad for her part in the scandal. Melinda Coleman was fired from her job. Charlie, the eldest of the Coleman children, was also harassed at school. After moving back to their hometown of Albany, Missouri, Coleman’s old house mysteriously burned down while still on the market to be sold.
Despite the halt in the case and the negative treatment from the community, the Coleman family was not going to give up. However, law officials in Maryville seemed disinterested and were convinced that the case was over, many even believing that the events from January 2012 should not be seen as criminal. Robert Rice, the prosecutor for Nodaway County, stated that the teenagers involved “were doing what they wanted to do, and there weren’t any consequences. And it’s reprehensible. But is it criminal? No.” Robert Sundell, who represented Barnett, agreed. He said, “Just because we don’t like the way teenagers act doesn’t necessarily make it a crime.”
Many people have lashed out against Daisy and her family, claiming that the “boys [involved] deserve an apology” and that Daisy “had been asking for it”. Both Barnett and Zech are now in college and doing just great. Daisy, however, has tried to commit suicide twice in the past year and has been in and out of therapy. And yet, people still blame her for what happened. Many articles and interviews have gone up expressing their opinions on the Daisy Coleman case, some of them quite appalling. Joseph DiBenedetto, a special guest on Fox News, believes Daisy is simply a scared girl who did not want to get in trouble with her mom for sneaking out. He also asks the question, “What did they expect to happen at 1 am after sneaking out?”
Emily Yoffe, a writer for Slate, insists in an article that it is partly the fault of the girls for being intoxicated in the first place. She calls women to “stop drinking”, because that leads to assault. She says, “The real feminist message should be that when you lose the ability to be responsible for yourself, you drastically increase the chances that you will attract the kinds of people who, shall we say, don’t have your best interest at heart. That’s not blaming the victim; that’s trying to prevent more victims”. Though Yoffe claims she is not victim blaming, I disagree. Just like many of the people from Maryville and DiBenedetto, Yoffe is putting part of the blame on the victim (which is victim blaming). The question I’d like to ask is why should girls expect to be sexually assaulted when drinking?
I am a firm believer in teaching people not to rape instead of focusing solely on the prevention of rape. I do not understand why I, as a woman, should have to be extremely careful in situations involving alcohol while men do not. To me, telling me that I should not drink is the same as telling me not to wear a short dress and high heels, because it will “attract the kinds of people who…don’t have [my] best interest at heart”. Daisy Coleman is the victim in this situation and definitely did not “get whats comin”, as many tweets have stated. I honestly cannot believe that anyone would think what happened is in any way her fault. Instead of telling Daisy and women like Daisy that it is in ANY way their fault for what happened, why can’t we help those boys who were a part of Daisy’s rape realize that what they did was wrong? Matthew Barnett recently tweeted: “If her name beings with A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z, she wants the D.” Obviously, Barnett has not yet learned his lesson.
For a highly detailed article about the Daisy Coleman case, click here.