When Holtzclaw was sacked, the police chief wrote it was the “Greatest abuse of police authority I have witnessed”.
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Two of the women sexually assaulted by a former Oklahoma City policeman said on Friday they feared for their lives after the officer threatened them with arrest and violence if they did not perform sexual acts on him.
A lawsuit Ligons has filed against Oklahoma City claims that in spite of the investigation beginning 8 May, the department ‘left him working as a police officer without supervision or monitoring’.
Daniel Holtzclaw, who turned 29 Thursday, sobbed as the verdict was read aloud. “Thank you, sir, for not taking me to jail, ‘” J.L. testified, according to BuzzFeed.
The jury convicted Holtzclaw of first degree rape, second-degree rape and sexual battery in the girl’s case. The trial included an all-white jury of mostly men, which statistically puts the black, female defendants at a disadvantage.
Holtzclaw was convicted of 18 of 36 charges of rape and sexual assault on Thursday, December 10.
“He just picked the wrong lady to stop that night”, said Jannie Logins, the victim who triggered the investigation into Holtzclaw after she reported him.
“I was out there alone and helpless, didn’t know what to do”. Sharday Hill said she was arrested then taken to a hospital for detox, where Holtzclaw sexually assaulted her. The women’s testimonies revealed a similar pattern: Holtzclaw would stop them, search them for drug paraphernalia and run criminal background checks. Others said as women of color, they were afraid to speak out against an officer – but Liggons was not. That means the jurors didn’t believe some of the 13 victims who testified on the stand. That means a jury could clearly see a police officer was involved in a deliberate organized process of raping poor black women but somehow, some way, some of the victims still didn’t pass the smell test for this jury.
Prosecutors said he’d systematically targeted the vulnerable: black women living on the margins of public life, some of them teenagers, some of them with criminal records. The same can be said of the trials surrounding Darren Wilson, Eric Garner, and even Michael Dunn. Holtzclaw is half-white, half-Japanese.
All of the accusers were black. The case was heard by an all-white jury.
The Oklahoma City Police Department said in a statement: “We are satisfied with the jury’s decision and firmly believe justice was served”. “And now people finally started paying attention”, said Crump. Activists outside the courthouse on Friday said they will closely watch Holtzclaw’s sentencing on January 21.
Supporters of the victims pray after the verdicts were read for the charges against Daniel Holtzclaw. The youngest victim, who was 17 at the time of her assault, described how Holtzclaw approached her as she was heading home, asked her if she had drugs, then raped her on her mother’s porch.
The AP isn’t utilizing the mom’s name and will not identify victims of sex crimes without their permission, but is using Ligon’s name because she discussed freely.
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Activists and analysts accused mainstream media outlets of failing to cover the case because the women weren’t “perfect” victims. “He chose women he could count on not telling what he was doing”, prosecutor Lori McConnell said in her closing arguments. “There were five women who did not receive justice – that is a problem”.
