I could write a book about what waiting five years for justice — only to end with a $1,000 plea deal — has done to my family.

But, every parent can imagine that pain, so I’ll skip straight to the point: our prosecutor, Amy Boxx, failed my daughter — and now she’s trying to spin the story instead of owning up to it.

Her comments in the newspaper are a shameful attempt at damage control. She points fingers at everyone but herself — judges, COVID, lab delays, court scheduling — anyone she can find to blame. This entire system in Barry County is broken, and the prosecutor office is at the heart of it. When one fails, the other excuses it, and the children who come forward are left to carry the burden of everyone’s inaction.

When I heard rumors of a plea deal, I immediately called her office to confirm. The assistant prosecutor refused to tell me anything — on a recorded call! I drove straight to the office.

Amy Boxx was there, sitting in her office. Instead of speaking with me, the mother of a child she was supposed to fight for, she told her secretaries to send me back to the assistant. She refused to meet with me.

Now, she tells the public that it was “assigned to another prosecutor.” No. It’s her office, her staff, her responsibility. Through five years, five judges and countless delays, she was the one constant. And when it mattered most, she turned away.

Her comments about there being “two types of cases” — one with physical evidence and one that’s just “he said/she said” — are appalling. What exactly is she saying? That unless a child’s abuse is caught on camera or leaves visible marks, it doesn’t count?

That victims shouldn’t come forward if they can’t hand her “proof?” That’s not justice — that’s surrender. It sends a devastating message to survivors: if you don’t have undeniable evidence, this office won’t fight for you.

And her claim that “victims are notified” is just another hollow excuse. I am registered for every system she mentioned, including MOVANS, and never once was I notified of anything other than a pretrial hearing that her assistant said would be rescheduled. We were left in the dark until it was too late.

Amy Boxx knew my daughter’s case involved years of abuse, that my child had disclosed it had been happening for as long as she could remember. If her office had returned a single call or met with me when I went in person, they could have known more, dug deeper and built a stronger case.

But they didn’t. They ignored us, and then blamed everyone else when it all fell apart. And then Boxx had the audacity to tell the paper this: “Unfortunately, we don’t always know when a defendant intends to enter a guilty plea.”

That’s your excuse for why my daughter wasn’t allowed to deliver her victim impact statement? You couldn’t say, “Hold on. I need to call the victim; they waited 5 years and this child said she wanted to at least be able to stand up and tell them what he had done to her?”

That’s not unfortunate, that’s unacceptable! That’s a violation of her rights as a victim. Your office violated those rights.

Amy Boxx says her hands were tied. But the truth is, she never reached for the rope. She had every opportunity to lead, to communicate, to fight — and she didn’t.

This isn’t an isolated mistake. I’ve heard from dozens of people in our community who’ve experienced the same neglect, the same silence, the same blame-shifting from her office. One failure can be forgiven; a pattern demands accountability.

Barry County deserves elected officials who stand with victims, not ones who hide behind excuses and press statements. How many times have our elected officials shown they won’t fight for our children.

So now it’s up to us — the people — to fight for them.

Josilyne Creason Cassville