U.S. Census data show about 15 percent of Oklahoma City’s population is African-American.
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The case has a crucial racial aspect to it. Holtzclaw is white, his victims are black, and the jury in the case was all white.
During the trial, the woman – most of whom must suffer the indignity of being escorting into the the courtroom by officers in shackles, jumpsuits and handcuffs, while their alleged attacker sat unchained in a suit – continued to fight for their rights, courageously taking the stand to speak out against the former police officer. The force added: “It was a long and hard trial and deliberation process for all involved”. He says he’s proud of his detectives and local prosecutors, according to the Associated Press.
The jury reached its conclusion after hearing 13 different black women’s accounts of being sexually assaulted by Holtzclaw.
The case is significant at a time when the public seeks accountability and justice for the criminal behavior of law enforcement.
The case began after one woman came forward and accused Holtzclaw of “sexual impropriety” during a traffic stop, Oklahoma City police Capt. Dexter Nelson told CNN previous year. An all-white, mostly male jury proved him wrong.
During the trial, one accuser was removed from the stand until she sobered up after she told the court, “I’m not going to lie”. She was able to race home in time to see it on TV.
Holtzclaw’s case was among those examined in a yearlong Associated Press investigation that revealed about 1,000 officers nationwide had lost their licenses for sex crimes or other sexual misconduct over a six-year period. Unlike most the other women he assaulted, she immediately reported the crime to police.
The 18 counts Holtzclaw was found guilty on carry a total recommended punishment of 263 years in prison. The woman testified he let her park the auto a few blocks away, then told her to get out and pull her trousers down, and he raped her. “I saw what was going to happen”, she said. He then forced her to submit to sex on the porch.
“It went like this for the three-dozen charges, while Holtzclaw, the fired police officer, rocked and cried, occasionally putting his head on the table”.
On Thursday, a jury found Daniel Holtzclaw, 29, guilty on five counts of rape, as well as 13 counts of sexual assault against eight of the 13 women who accused him.
Holtzclaw was placed on administrative leave and eventually arrested, after investigators used Global Positioning System tracking devices to corroborate the accusers’ stories. A grandmother in her 50s, the woman said she was driving home after 2 a.m. when Holtzclaw pulled her over.
Holtzclaw was convicted of one of two charges related to a woman who testified he gave her a ride home, then followed her into her bedroom and raped her, telling her, “This is better than county jail”. District Attorney David Prater said he will ask the sentences be served consecutively.
Holtzclaw was ordered into custody.
The defense attorney declined to comment after the verdict. Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw asked as he bent over his victim.
At his sentencing on January 21, he faces life in prison. The youngest accuser was 17. All of them spoke up and spoke out against the man who violated them, and yet their credibility was questioned and they were criminalized, in a nation where Black women have faced rape in silence for centuries. Several have drug addictions or criminal records.
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The allegations against Holtzclaw brought new attention to the problem of sexual misconduct committed by law enforcement officers, something police chiefs have studied for years.
