Ex-Cop Sentenced to 263 Years in Prison for On-Duty Sexual Assaults

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Ex-Cop Sentenced to 263 Years in Prison for On-Duty Sexual Assaults

January 24th, 2016

Awake Goy

Former policeman Danniel Holtzclaw, show above in orange, was sentenced to life imprisonment for serial rape.

Six weeks after an ex-Oklahoma City Police officer was convicted of sex crimes by a jury that recommended sentencing that totaled 263 years in prison, the trial judge agreed with the jury’s recommendation and imposed the prison sentence. Additionally, he ordered the terms to be served consecutively.

Daniel Holtzclaw preyed on African-American women during a six month period while patrolling a minority, low-income neighborhood. Holtzclaw, who is 29 years old, is the son of a white father and a Japanese mother. His father is a lieutenant in another police department and he also has a brother-in-law who is in law enforcement.

Beginning in July 2014, Holtzclaw, while on duty, stopped women, checked them for outstanding warrants, searched them for drug paraphernalia, then forced them into sexual activity with him. Many of the women had arrest records for drug abuse or prostitution. The prosecuting attorney argued that these were women that Holtzclaw could count on to not tell what he was doing because no one would believe them and no one would care. The women’s ages ranged from 17 to 57 years.

The case against Holtzclaw was initiated when one woman accused him of “sexual impropriety” during a traffic stop. He was fired from the police force in January, 2015 after an internal investigation. The Oklahoma City Police Chief wrote in the termination letter: “Your offenses committed against women in our community constitute the greatest abuse of police authority I have witnessed in my 37 years as a member of this agency”.

Holtzclaw was eventually charged with 36 counts that included burglary, stalking, indecent exposure, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy and rape involving 13 women. An all-white jury of eight men and four women convicted him on 18 of those charges, including four counts of first-degree rape, four counts of forced oral sodomy, sexual battery, procuring lewd exhibition and second-degree rape involving eight women.

After the sentencing, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater had this to say: “I think people need to realize that this is not a law-enforcement officer that committed these crimes. This is a rapist who masqueraded as a law-enforcement officer. If he was a true law enforcement officer he would have upheld his duty to protect those citizens rather than victimize them.”

Holtzclaw’s attorney asked for a new trial. That motion was denied. The attorney said there will be an appeal. However, the request for an appeal bond was denied.