“There’s hope for our society”, Victims, attorneys speak about Holtzclaw case

“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, ‘ Oklahoma City Police Chief William Citty wrote in the termination letter, according to CNN affiliate KFOR“.

(Nate Billings/The Oklahoman via AP). The woman told the police that the police officer forced her to give him oral sex during a traffic stop, which sparked an investigation leading to his arrest in August 2014 and his subsequent sacking from the Oklahoma City Police Department in January 2015, according to The Huffington Post.

Daniel Holtzclaw, who turned 29 on Thursday, sobbed and put his head on a table as the verdict was read. At left is defense attorney Robert Gray.

Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Opgrande said Friday that Daniel Holtzclaw is in special protection inside the jail as a precaution because of his demeanor after the trial.

In another racial component of the case, an all-white jury was selected to hear the trial, a development that set off alarm bells in Oklahoma County’s black community and beyond.

All of the women are black.

A former Oklahoma City police officer was found guilty of crimes including rape and sexual battery by a jury on Thursday in a case where prosecutors said he preyed on women who had trouble with the law, hoping their word would not stand up against his.

It wasn’t until a 50-something-year-old grandmother came forward that detectives took a real interest in the case.

“I was scared. I didn’t know what to do”.

Tezlyn Figaro, who is credited with reaching out to Crump and pushing for the case to get more attention, said, “I am ashamed at the lack of coverage from Oklahoma City media as well as the national – with not covering this case as it should have been from day one”.

He first asked her if she had been drinking, then ordered her out of the vehicle and into the backseat of his squad auto.

After attending a section of the trial last month, he told reporters: “We will be here to make sure that this is not swept under the rug”.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

“To be completely candid, I have been afraid to let myself entertain the thought this jury would be able to provide justice; at the same time, I have not wanted to face the horror if they didn’t”, says Dr. Kali Gross, a University of Texas at Austin historian who specializes in Black women and the American criminal justice system.

Jurors heard closing arguments in Holtzclaw’s six-week trial on Monday, then deliberated late into the night. She recalled him pulling up next to her in his patrol auto as she walked home in June 2014.

The last accuser to testify was only 17 when, she said, Holtzclaw raped her on her mother’s porch just after dark.

In the second hospital room, she allegedly found herself alone with Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who was observing her while she lay down, one arm handcuffed to her bed.

The AP does not identify victims of sex crimes without their consent, but is using Ligons’ name because she spoke publicly. But the jury still convicted Holtzclaw of forcible oral sodomy in her case.

In numerous cases, the police officer targeted victims who were sex workers, drug users or had criminal records, coercing them into sexual acts by promising to drop any drug charges or ignoring any outstanding warrants and not report the sexual assault and rapes against them. Together, this jury panel spent 45 hours weighing, questioning and deciding.

– Adam Snider (@AdamSniderKFOR) December 11, 2015.@CNN, where is your coverage of the #DanielHoltzclaw verdict?

A former college football star, Holtzclaw joined law enforcement after a brief attempt at pursuing an NFL career. All were black, and all but one lived in the same disadvantaged neighborhood.