Daniel Holtzclaw

Daniel Holtzclaw
Born Daniel Ken Holtzclaw
(1986-12-10) December 10, 1986
Guam, U.S.
Residence Incarcerated by Oklahoma DOC (location undisclosed)[1]
Nationality United States[2]
Occupation Former police officer
Height 6'1"[3]
Weight 242 lb (110 kg)
Criminal charge Rape, sexual battery, stalking, oral sodomy
Criminal penalty 263 years imprisonment
Conviction(s) Found guilty on 18 of 36 charges[2][4]

Daniel Ken Holtzclaw (born December 10, 1986) is a convicted serial rapist and a former Oklahoma City Police Department patrol officer. He was convicted in December 2015 of multiple counts of rape, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy, and other charges.[5]

The majority of Holtzclaw's victims had criminal histories such as drug arrests; all of the women were African American.[6] According to the police investigators, Holtzclaw used his position as an officer to run background checks to find information that could be used to coerce sex.[2] During the trial, the defense questioned the victims' credibility during cross-examination, bringing up their criminal records.[7] However, the prosecution argued that victims were deliberately chosen by Holtzclaw for this very reason.[8]

Holtzclaw pleaded not guilty to all charges. On December 10, 2015, an all-white jury convicted him on 18 of 36 charges, and on January 21, 2016, he was sentenced to 263 years in prison.[9][10][11]

On the day that the Holtzclaw trial opened, the courtroom was almost empty.[2][12] OKC Artists for Justice, an Oklahoma City-based advocacy group, was founded by two Oklahoma City residents to organize support for the women.[13]

Early life

Daniel Holtzclaw was born December 10, 1986, in the U.S. territory of Guam, to Eric Holtzclaw and Kumiko Holtzclaw, who is Japanese.[14][15] His father is a Lieutenant with the Enid Police Department, Enid is approximately 70 miles north of Oklahoma City.[16]

Holtzclaw graduated from Enid High School in 2005. While there he played football as a linebacker, setting a school record for 25 tackles in a game.[17] He played linebacker at Eastern Michigan University, where he graduated with a degree in criminal law. After graduating, Holtzclaw unsuccessfully attempted to get drafted into the NFL.[3] Following that, he joined the Oklahoma City Police Department.[18]

Criminal charges and conviction

Charges

Holtzclaw was accused of sexually abusing multiple women over the period between December 2013 and June 2014, targeting those from a poorer, majority African American portion of the city. According to the police investigators, Holtzclaw ran background checks on women with outstanding warrants or other criminal records, and methodically targeted those victims.[2]

The offense that led to Holtzclaw's arrest happened around two o'clock in the morning on June 18, 2014, after Holtzclaw had already completed his shift on the northeast side of Oklahoma City and was driving to his residence in his assigned police vehicle.[19] During that time, police said, Holtzclaw made a traffic stop without ever reporting the stop to police dispatch, running a records check on the driver, or revealing that he logged off of his patrol car computer. The driver was Jannie Ligons, a 57-year-old woman who was passing through but not from the impoverished area that Holtzclaw was targeting. Unlike other women that he had accosted, she was neither poor nor did she have a police record. Before forcing her to perform oral sex on him, Holtzclaw made her lift her shirt and pull down her pants. She testified that she had begged him to stop and was afraid for her life. Ligons promptly filed a police report.

When Holtzclaw reported to the OKCPD Springlake Division station the following afternoon for his daily 4 P.M to 2 A.M shift he was pulled aside and driven to the Department's Sex Crimes Unit by detectives Kim Davis and Rocky Gregory to be questioned by them. After being Mirandized Holtzclaw underwent a two hour interrogation during which he denied all accusations of misconduct during the Ligons stop earlier that morning and buccal swabs were also taken for DNA comparison. At the conclusion of the interrogation, the two detectives told Holtzclaw that they believed that he was being untruthful based both on other evidence already developed and on statements made by Kerri Hunt, his then 25-year old cohabiting girl friend that countered claims Holtzclaw had made to the detectives. While he was released after the interrogation, Hotlzclaw's commission (#1782) and entry cards, badges, firearms (handgun and shotgun), radio, and keys to his assigned police vehicle were seized and he was placed on indefinite paid administrative leave. After further investigation which eventually turned up a dozen additional complainants, Holtzclaw was arrested two months later on August 21, 2014 and originally charged with 16 (and eventually 36) counts of sexual abuse offenses including rape in the first and second degrees, sexual battery, procuring lewd exhibition, stalking, and forcible oral sodomy.[20][21][22][23]

While reviewing her case, the two sex crimes detectives remembered a previous report of forced oral sex committed by a police officer. Looking back through police records, the detectives found a report of a woman who stated that she was stopped in May 2014 and driven to an isolated area by an officer who forced her to perform oral sex. No action had been taken at the time of her report, but when the detectives contacted the woman she showed them the route that the officer had taken on the night of the attack and it was an exact match to Holtzclaw's GPS on that evening. The detectives then reviewed Holtzclaw's automatically recorded history of running names through the department's two databases, looking specifically for people who had been checked out multiple times, and they contacted those women. In their initial investigation they found six women who were willing to come forward to testify, and the GPS device on Holtzclaw's patrol car put him at the scene of the alleged incidents and police records showed that he had called in for a warrant check on all of the women. Their investigation covered a six-month period beginning with the first woman willing to come forward, a woman who Holtzclaw arrested for drug possession in December 2013 and then forced oral sodomy on her while she was handcuffed to a hospital bed.[18][21]

Accusations of sexual misconduct

Eventually the police investigation brought together 13 women who were willing to testify; published reports did not include information on any possible further women who were not willing to testify. The earliest woman discovered was from December 20, 2013, a woman who said she had been arrested for drug possession, was hospitalized, and forced to give oral sex while she was handcuffed to her hospital bed. She said that he again made sexual advances to her on several occasions after she was released from jail. The woman said that she was led to believe that she would be released if she performed oral sex on Holtzclaw. "I didn't think that no one would believe me", she testified at a pretrial hearing. "I feel like all police will work together."[24]

On February 27, 2014, Holtzclaw allegedly pulled up to a woman who was sitting in a parked car outside her house, fondled the woman's breasts, and told her "I'm not going to take you to jail. Just play by my rules." He returned to her home repeatedly and broke into it once. At his trial she said she did not notify the police because she did not believe anyone would believe her because "I'm a black female."

In early 2014 Holtzclaw allegedly forced a woman who was admittedly a drug user to expose her breasts and genitals in order to avoid arrest.

Jury selection

When the jury was selected, many in the community hoped it would have some racial diversity assigned to it.[26] Sixteen percent of the people from Oklahoma County are African American.[27]

However, the final jury was an all-white jury of eight men and four women.[28] Three black men were selected to the first pool of 24 potential jurors, but each were eventually rejected.[29][30] The Oklahoma NAACP President Garland Pruitt made the following statement when asked about the jury selection: "We're very disappointed, very, very disappointed, that we don't have any minorities on there."[31]

Trial

Holtzclaw, who had been on paid administrative leave since he was charged in August 2014,[32] was fired from the force in January 2015 and his trial began on November 2, 2015.[33] He faced 36 charges, including sexual battery, assault, coercive oral sodomy, and stalking; he pled not guilty to all charges.[18][34][35][36]

In court, prosecutors produced DNA evidence that was found on a triangle-shaped spot on the inside of Holtzclaw's uniform close to the zipper. After the hearing, his family made a statement that "The facts are that there is no DNA linking him to any of these women as far as was presented in the hearing."[18] According to The New York Times, however, the DNA did match one of the victims, then aged 17.[34][37][38][39] The DNA that was found was skin DNA; Holtzclaw's DNA was not found in the same area of clothing where the 17 year old accuser's skin DNA was found. Holtzclaw's defense attorney explained the presence of the skin cells as "secondary transfer" whereby Holtzclaw's hands had possibly come into contact with the woman's skin cells when he searched her purse and later transferred them to the zipper area of his pants.[40][41]

During the trial, Holtzclaw did not contest that he encountered the women, but he maintained his innocence. The defense concentrated on the accusers' lifestyles and called just one witness, a former girlfriend of Holtzclaw's who testified he never exhibited sexually aggressive or inappropriate behavior around her.

On December 10, 2015, he was convicted on 18 of the charges, with the jury recommending that he serve 263 years in prison.[10][42] Charges included first-degree rape, sexual battery, indecent exposure, stalking, forcible oral sodomy and burglary. He also faced second-degree rape by instrumentation and sexual battery charges.[7] Claiming that evidence was withheld from the defense, Holtzclaw's attorney requested a new trial on January 20, 2016. The request was denied by the judge. On January 21, Holtzclaw was sentenced to the full 263 years recommended by the jury, to be served consecutively. Holtzclaw's attorney says he will appeal.[11]

A statement released by Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty reads, in part: "We are satisfied with the jury's decision and firmly believe justice was served."[43]

Soon after his sentencing, all of Holtzclaw's information was intentionally removed from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DoC) website. The website shows data on a criminal's offense(s), mug shots, and jail location. When asked where Holtzclaw is currently located a DoC spokesperson Terri Watkins replied, "We are not going to comment, it is a matter of security."[1]

Controversy regarding media attention

According to The Atlantic, mainstream media gave Holtzclaw's trial for serial sexual attacks and rapes "relatively little" attention, although Black Lives Matter activists raised the matter in social media and helped bring attention to the ongoing judicial process.[12] The Guardian reported that local activists were surprised that advocates from national women's groups, who had attended rape trials in the past, were absent from the courtroom at the start of the trial.[2] Racial justice activists who had been very vocal about recent police-involved shootings were also accused of being largely absent from involvement in the Holtzclaw case.[2]

In the absence of national attention, two Oklahoma City women, Grace Franklin and Candace Liger, formed the group OKC Artists For Justice to bring attention to the case. They said that they began to organize when Holtzclaw's bail was reduced from $5 million to $500,000 because it was so "insulting and infuriating", that they "wanted to stand up and say 'No. This is not OK. You cannot let a man who attacked and raped 13 women, per the charges, go home and have Christmas dinner with his family while those women are still in fear.'"[44] Franklin said that they reached out to many national groups but received little response. She said, "It kind of fuels the feeling of separation between black so-called feminists and white feminists. Why aren't there more women out here of all shades, of all backgrounds for these women? Why are we doing this alone?"[8]

Blogger and cultural critic Mikki Kendall has written about the lack of support for the alleged victims in this case in the past. An article in Cosmopolitan noted that the media consistently ignores the violence perpetuated against black women and girls as compared to the coverage given to white women and girls. The article concluded:

Mainstream media failed these women. The lack of coverage thwarted a national conversation about sexual violence as a distinct form of police brutality. The stories of these women need to serve as an important intervention in conversations about anti-black state violence, rape culture, and the vulnerability of sex workers, ex-offenders, and current and recovering drug addicts to state and state-sanctioned violence. This verdict and Holtzclaw's forthcoming sentencing are entry points for a more thoughtful, humane, and transformative national dialogue about police brutality and sexual violence. With or without mainstream media coverage, we need to continue talking about this trial and everything it represents.[45]

Holtzclaw's case was part of an Associated Press report in a yearlong examination of sexual assaults by police. The report found that approximately 1,000 police officers lost their licenses for sex crimes during a six-year period. Reporting in the case indicates that this may be an undercount due to inconsistencies in how different jurisdictions deal with and report problem officers.[46]

In February 2016, website SB Nation published a lengthy profile of Holtzclaw that focused on his college football career. The piece was immediately criticized as being apologetic and sympathetic to Holtzclaw; it was pulled within hours of publication, and the site subsequently suspended its long-form journalism program and cut ties with the freelance author responsible.[47][48][49][50]

ABC's 20/20 investigated and then aired Daniel Holtzclaw's case on May 20, 2016 entitled "What the Dash Cam Never Saw".[51] However, the OCPD do not have dash cams in their cars, nor did they have body cams at the time that Holtzclaw was patrolling. OCPD did try to institute the use of body cams right after Holtzclaw's sentencing on January 22, 2016.[52] The body cam program was stopped less than six months later.[53]

References

  1. 1 2 Musgrove, Chuck (January 29, 2016). "Former Oklahoma City police officer convicted of sex crimes disappears from prison database". kfor.com. Tribune Broadcasting. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Redden, Molly (December 10, 2015). "Daniel Holtzclaw: former Oklahoma City police officer guilty of rape". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited.
  3. 1 2 "2009 NFL Draft Scout Player Profile". www.nfldraftscout.com. The Sports Xchange. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  4. ↑ Rangel, Leslie (December 10, 2015). "Holtzclaw sobs, stares down jury after found guilty in 18 of 36 sexual assault charges". kfor.com. KFOR A Tribune Broadcasting Station. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ HELSEL, PHIL (December 11, 2015). "Ex-Oklahoma City Cop Daniel Holtzclaw Found Guilty of Rapes". NBC News. NBC News. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Former Oklahoma City cop convicted on rape charges". CBS News, Associated Press. CBS Interactive Inc. December 10, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Ng, Alfred; Silverstein, Jason (December 11, 2015). "Jury convicts ex-Oklahoma cop Daniel Holtzclaw of rape, sodomy charges; faces life in prison". NY Daily News. New York Daily News. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Lussenhop, Jessica (November 13, 2015). "Daniel Holtzclaw trial: Standing with 'imperfect' accusers". BBC News Magazine. BBC. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  9. ↑ King, Shaun (November 4, 2015). "KING: Cop accused of raping black women gets all white jury". NY Daily News. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Oklahoma ex-cop guilty of rape in sex abuse case". The Washington Post. December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Cavallier, Andrea (January 21, 2016). "Former Oklahoma City cop Daniel Holtzclaw sentenced to 263 years on rape charges". Pix11. CNN, Associated Press. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  12. 1 2 Ford, Ken (December 11, 2015). "A Guilty Verdict for Daniel Holtzclaw". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
  13. ↑ Jason Johnson. "The Holtzclaw Trial: When Rape Culture Meets #BlackLivesMatter". NBC News. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  14. ↑ Schmitz, Melanie (December 11, 2015). "Daniel Holtzclaw Used Race To Bully His Victims Into Submission & His Victims Know Exactly Why". www.bustle.com. bustle.com. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  15. ↑ Michael Martinez (December 10, 2015). "Former Oklahoma City officer Daniel Holtzclaw found guilty of rape". CNN. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  16. ↑ Iwasinski, Adrianna (September 3, 2014). "Bond Reduced For OKC Officer Accused Of Sexual Assaults". www.news9.com. News9.com. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ Ruthenberg, Dave (March 23, 2013). "Ex-EHS gridiron standout goes from pursuing running backs to pursuing felons". Enid News and Eagle. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Testa, Jessica (November 2, 2015). "How Police Caught The Cop Who Allegedly Sexually Abused Black Women". BuzzFeed News. BuzzFeed News. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  19. ↑ AP (November 1, 2015). "Graphic: Interrogation of former Oklahoma City officer following first accusation of sex crimes". AP. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  20. ↑ Unredacted Daniel Holtzclaw interrogation by OKCPD sex crimes unit detectives
  21. 1 2 3 "AP: Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct". The Big Story.
  22. ↑ Sarah Kaplan (December 11, 2015). "A serial rapist cop's 'mistake': Assaulting the grandmother who finally reported him". Washington Post. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  23. ↑ Patty Santos (November 13, 2015). "Woman testifies after showing up high to Daniel Holtzclaw trial high". KOCO. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  24. ↑ Sedensky, Matt; Merchant, Nomann (November 1, 2015). "AP: Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct". AP. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  25. ↑ De Leon, Conception (December 9, 2015). "The Trial of Daniel Holtzclaw, the Cop Charged With Sexually Assaulting 13 Black Women". GLAMOUR News. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  26. ↑ Tesfaye, Sophia (December 11, 2015). "All-White jury convicts white Oklahoma City cop of raping 13 black women". Salon. Salon Media Group, Inc. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  27. ↑ Townes, Carimah (November 4, 2015). "An All-White, Mostly Male Jury To Decide Fate Of Cop Accused Of Assaulting 13 Black Women". ThinkProgress. Center for American Progress Action Fund. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  28. ↑ Dart, Tom (November 7, 2015). "Critics cite all-white jury for trial of ex-officer accused of raping black women". the Guardian. Associated Press. Guardian News. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  29. ↑ Santos, Patty (November 4, 2015). "Oklahoma City NAACP concerned about jury selection in Daniel Holtzclaw trial". KOCO 5 News. Ohio/Oklahoma Hearst Television Inc. KOCO-TV. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  30. ↑ King, Shaun (November 5, 2015). "KING: Cop accused of raping black women gets all white jury". NY Daily News. NYDailyNews.com. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  31. ↑ Santos, Patty. "Oklahoma City NAACP concerned about jury selection in Daniel Holtzclaw trial". KOCO (November 4, 2015). Oklahoma City: Ohio/Oklahoma Hearst Television Inc. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  32. ↑ Golgowski, Nina (September 5, 2014). "Oklahoma City cop charged with sexually assaulting eight women is released on bond". Daily News. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Daniel Holtzclaw trial: Standing with 'imperfect' accusers". BBC News. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  34. 1 2 Passoth, Kim (November 17, 2014). "9 women testify OCPD officer sexually assaulted them; More set to take stand". KOCO. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  35. ↑ "DA files 16 felony counts against Holtzclaw". Enid News & Eagle. August 29, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Former OKC Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw Found Guilty Of Rape". WEAS-FM. Associated Press. December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  37. ↑ Philipps, Dave (December 10, 2015). "Former Oklahoma City Police Officer Found Guilty of Rapes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  38. ↑ "State witness tests positive for PCP hours before taking stand". KFOR-TV. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  39. ↑ Testa, Jessica (December 9, 2015). "The 13 Women Who Accused A Cop Of Sexual Assault, In Their Own Words". BuzzFeed. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Closing arguments to begin for former Oklahoma City police officer accused of rape, sexual assault". NewsOK. December 2, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  41. ↑ "Jury deliberating in trial of former Oklahoma City police officer". KFOR. December 2, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  42. ↑ "White Ex-Cop #DanielHoltzclaw Found Guilty, Gets Over 200 Years In Prison, Then Cries Afterwards". VannDigital.com. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  43. ↑ "Ex-cop guilty on 18 counts in Oklahoma City rape trial". Chicago Sun-Times. December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  44. ↑ Dallas, Ebony (December 2, 2015). "OKC Artists for Justice founders see activism as extension of creativity". News OK. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  45. ↑ Lindsey, Treva (December 15, 2015). "The Media's Disgraceful Silence on Daniel Holtzclaw". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  46. ↑ Sean Murphy (January 21, 2016). "Ex-Oklahoma Officer Gets 263 Years for Rapes, Sex Assaults - ABC News". Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  47. ↑ Bonesteel, Matt (February 18, 2016). "SB Nation is right: Its story about a convicted rapist was a 'complete failure'". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  48. ↑ Victor, Daniel (February 18, 2016). "SB Nation Removes Article Criticized as Sympathetic to Convicted Rapist". The New York Times. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  49. ↑ Mitchell, Benjamin F. (February 18, 2016). "SB Nation publishes, takes down "failure" of story about Holtzclaw". USA Today. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  50. ↑ Howard, Greg (2016-02-19). "SB Nation Memo Announces Hiatus For Longform Program". Deadspin.
  51. ↑ Chang, Juju (2016-05-20). "What the Dash Cam Never Saw".
  52. ↑ Lett, Lacey (January 22, 2016). "Oklahoma City Police Department launches body camera program".
  53. ↑ Brewer, Graham Lee (14 June 2016). "Arbitrator tells OKC police to shelve body camera use".
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