Last month, we reported that Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City police officer, was charged with 36 counts of rape, sexual battery, indecent exposure, stalking, burglary, and forcible oral sodomy.
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The former police officer was found guilty on 18 of 36 charges of sexual assault. He was convicted of 18 counts connected to eight women, all of whom were black and who testified against him.
Holtzclaw, a college football star who joined law enforcement after a brief attempt at pursuing an NFL career, rocked back and forth, sobbing in his chair, as the verdicts were read.
“At a time when Black men and boys are being murdered by police officers or some other white person at an alarming rate, with viral video evidence to boot, it’s puzzling that the protests and outrage and uproar come to a roaring halt when horrendous crimes, including murder, happen to Black women”, says Dr. Natalie Bullock Brown, film and interactive department chairwoman at St. Augustine’s University, now working on a film that addresses how beauty ideals of a white, racist, male dominant culture affect Black females. Sentencing remains, but the now-convicted rapist drew a total of 263 possible years behind bars for what prosecutors portrayed as an intentional targeting of poor, black women with criminal records in northeast OKC. Eric Holtzclaw, left, holds his wife, Kumiko Holtzclaw, right, as the verdicts are read in the trial of their son, Daniel Holtzclaw, in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. This is especially unsettling when it has been determined that over 1000 police officers were decertified for sexual assault between 2009 and 2014. Majority said Holtzclaw stopped them while out on patrol, searched them for outstanding warrants or checked to see if they were carrying drug paraphernalia, then forced himself on them. And he said that such crimes are also happening beyond Oklahoma City.
About an hour into Holtzclaw observing her like this, S.H. recalls that he began repeatedly pointing out that her chest was exposed.
The mother of the 17-year-old victim told The Associated Press that she feels like justice has been served.
Crump added that the case shows that Holtzclaw had selected disadvantaged women to prey on, counting on their unwillingness to report a crime to the police.
Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty said in a statement on Thursday: “We are satisfied with the jury’s decision and firmly believe justice was served”. “Thank you, sir, for not taking me to jail, ‘” J.L. testified, according to BuzzFeed.
“I didn’t do anything wrong”, the grandmother said Friday, showing her face on camera and revealing her name as Jannie Ligons, a daycare worker in her 50s.
Today is Daniel Holtzclaw’s 29th birthday.
The defense argued some of the alleged victims were high when the purported assaults took place.
Holtzclaw is scheduled to be sentenced on January 21, according to local TV news KOKH. In what felt like a unique moment, justice was not fooled by the aggressive defense mounted by Holtzclaw’s attorney, Scott Adams, which exploited racist stereotypes, class bias and fears about the majority-black east side community from which Holtzclaw culled his victims. I was traumatized. I went to therapy and had a stroke. Two women took the stand wearing handcuffs and orange scrubs because they had recently been jailed on drug charges. “It’s so underreported, and people are scared that if they call and complain about a police officer, they think every other police officer is going to be then out to get them”.
Actor Jada Pinkett Smith tweeted her support for the women, saying, “Black Women Matter, All Women Matter”. Maybe. But I’m willing to wrestle with it.
“We understand there were other women who have called before, whose calls went unanswered”.
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Prosecutors said Holtzclaw coerced the majority of his 13 victims – all of whom reportedly had histories of drug abuse or prostitution – into performing sexual acts by promising to drop charges against them.
