Above Photo: Former Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw received multiple life sentences on Thursday, his 29th birthday. Reuters.
Oklahoma City cop Daniel Holtzclaw was charged with 36 counts of sexual assault involving more than a dozen women.
A jury in the U.S. state of Oklahoma late Thursday sentenced former police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw to more than 200 years in prison for charges up to and including rape.
Holtzclaw was publicly accused by 13 women of assaulting them while he was on patrol. “He didn’t choose CEOs or soccer moms,” said prosecutor Lori McConnell. “He chose women he could count on not telling what he was doing. He counted on the fact no one would believe them and no one would care.”
All of the victims were women of color.
Holtzclaw guilty on 18 of 36 charges. Holtzclaw’s reaction as the verdict is read. @kfor #HoltzclawTrial pic.twitter.com/VWzqRueFvL
— Sheldra (@SheldraBrigham) December 11, 2015
Holtzclaw was fired over the accusations in January. His trial ended last week, with the jury beginning deliberations on Monday.
The case became a cause for anti-racist activists in the United States, who criticized the relative lack of media coverage. Terrea Mitchell, an organizer with the group People’s Power Assembly, argued that the lack of attention spoke to what led Holtzclaw to believe he could get away with abusing his authority.
ANALYSIS: Every Single Black Life Matters
“He raped 13 Black women and he did it because he knew that he could get away with it and that’s basically what the women had been testifying about,” Mitchell told teleSUR. “They didn’t feel that they would be believed because they were Black women and that needs to stop.”
Holtzclaw received the multiple life sentences on his 29th birthday.