Ex-Cop Gets 263 Years For Raping, Sexually Assaulting Black Women While On Patrol

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former police officer convicted of raping and sexually victimizing women while on his beat in a low-income Oklahoma City neighborhood was ordered Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Jurors had recommended that Daniel Holtzclaw be sentenced to 263 years in prison for preying on women in 2013 and 2014. District Judge Timothy Henderson agreed, saidHoltzclaw will serve the terms consecutively and denied his request for an appeal bond.

Holtzclaw waived his right to remain in custody in the county jail for 10 days, instead opting to be taken directly to prison. Defense attorney Scott Adams said Holtzclaw will appeal.

Holtzclaw was convicted last month on 18 counts, including four first-degree rape counts as well as forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery, procuring lewd exhibition and second-degree rape. He was acquitted on 18 other counts.

Prosecutors said Holtzclaw targeted black women in neighborhoods east and north of the state Capitol building. During the monthlong trial, 13 women testified against him, and several said Holtzclaw stopped them, checked them for outstanding warrants or drug paraphernalia, and then forced himself on them.

All of the accusers were black. Holtzclaw is half-white, half-Japanese, and the son of a longtime Enid, Oklahoma, police officer.

Holtzclaw’s victims included a teenager and woman in her 50s. The older woman’s complaint in June 2014 launched the investigation into Holtzclaw.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Jannie Ligons said at a news conference following the verdict. “So all I can say is, I was innocent and he just picked the wrong lady to stop that night.”

The Associated Press does not identify victims of sex crimes without their consent, but she was among two women who spoke publicly about the case and agreed to be identified.

Holtzclaw’s attorney, meanwhile, had described the former college football star as a model officer whose attempts to help the drug addicts and prostitutes he came in contact with were distorted. Adams also attacked the credibility of some of the women, who had arrest records and histories of drug abuse, noting that many didn’t come forward until police had already identified them as possible victims after launching their investigation.

Several of Holtzclaw’s victims have filed civil lawsuits against Holtzclaw and the city in state and federal court.

Three accusers delivered victim-impact statements Thursday, and at least one other was in the courtroom.

“They have a right to voice whatever opinion they have about sentencing to the court,” District Attorney David Prater said.

Thursday’s hearing was delayed by a few hours as Holtzclaw and attorneys met with the judge over the defense’s request for a new trial or evidentiary hearing, but after hearing testimony from another officer, Henderson rejected the request and moved on to witness statements.

The Associated Press highlighted Holtzclaw’s case in a yearlong examination of sexual misconduct by law officers, which found that about 1,000 officers in the U.S. lost their licenses for sex crimes or other sexual misconduct over a six-year period.

Those figures are likely an undercount, because not every state has a process to ban problem officers from law enforcement. In states that do decertify officers, reporting requirements vary.

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The AP’s “Betrayed by the Badge” series:

AP: Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct: http://apne.ws/1J0bVlI

AP: Officer sex cases plagued by lax supervision, policies: http://apne.ws/1SSnNf4

AP: Broken system lets problem officers jump from job to job: http://apne.ws/1QARkuu

AP investigation into officer sex misconduct, by the numbers: http://apne.ws/1J0c6gU

A look inside AP’s investigation on officer sex misconduct: http://apne.ws/1lB6J2L

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