Police officer Daniel Holtzclaw was found guilty by an all-white jury of 18 counts, including five of rape, stemming from his sexual assault of 13 Black women.
Holtzclaw is a 28-year-old former police officer in Oklahoma City who prosecutors say hid behind his badge in a series of attacks against Black women over a seven-month period. His victims ranged from age 17 to age 57. All were black, and all but one lived in the same disadvantaged neighborhood. Holtzclaw faced life in prison for 36 felony charges of rape, forcible oral sodomy, burglary, and sexual battery.
Holtzclaw attacked the women, who prosecutors say were targeted due to their race and economic status, in a variety of places such as their own home and even in the hospital. Often, he would do so by exposing himself through the fly of his police uniform.
The details of the attacks are hard to read. He attacked the 17-year-old victim on her mother’s porch. He forced a 50-something grandmother to perform oral sodomy during a traffic stop while he “snickered” and “grinned.”
At his sentencing on January 21, he faces life in prison.
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