Oklahoma cop gets life for sex crimes against the poor

A police officer has been sentenced to life in prison for raping and sexually assaulting black women in the poor part of Oklahoma where he worked.

The charges, which stem from the assault of eight different women, painted the portrait of an abusive police officer who intentionally targeted black women and sexually assaulted them while threatening arrest.

Cheers rang out in the Oklahoma courthouse after the judge ruled Daniel Holtzclaw would have to spend 263 years in prison.

In December, after 45 hours of deliberation, a jury found Holtzclaw guilty of 18 of the 36 charges stemming from the accounts of 13 black women, all of whom testified during Holtzclaw’s trial. Henderson will decide whether Holtzclaw will have to serve the sentences consecutively.

But before the ruling, the judge had to hear a motion by Holtzclaw’s team asking for a new trial.

The Associated Press last year highlighted Holtzclaw’s case in after an investigation revealed about 1,000 law officers were decertified in a six-year period because of sexual misconduct on the job. The judge listened to testimony from a police detective who wrote a Facebook post following the Holtzclaw trial. In the case of Holtzclaw’s victims, many didn’t report his crimes at first because they were afraid no one would believe them, so it stands to reason other women have done the same. “It’s been hard on me”, the teenager said in court, according to NY Daily News. The prosecution argued that Holtzclaw chose women who had these things in common because he knew they would be less likely to tell someone about the abuse.

“If there is additional DNA evidence despite the government’s representations to the contrary, and if there are additional people who came forward and falsely claimed that they were victims… then deliberate misrepresentations were made not only to the defense counsel but to the Court, calling into question the credibility of the government’s entire case”, the filing for a new trial said. Holtzclaw is half-white and half-Asian. Another woman, who was 17 at the time of the assault, said her “life has been upside down” since Holtzclaw raped her on the front porch of her mothers home.

All three victims said Holtzclaw’s assaults did inconceivable damage to their lives.

After the sentencing, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said it was clear to him that Holtzclaw was a “predator” of women in a “compromised position”.

Caption + Daniel Holtzclaw, left, is escorted out of his sentencing in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016.