Daniel Holtzclaw, a former police officer at Oklahoma City, was sentenced to 263 consecutive years in prison after he was convicted last month on 18 counts.
On Thursday, a grandmother of 12 and other women testified against him. It was reported that the officer stopped his victims when he was on patrol and then he harassed them. All victims were black women.
The Oklahoma City Police Department said in December, when Holtzclaw was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting women, that the department was “pleased with the decision of the jury” and that it was obvious the jury took their responsibilities very serious, and considered every piece of evidence presented to them.
It was reported by prosecutors that Holtzclaw’s victims were selected in very poor neighborhoods in Oklahoma City because of their criminal histories of drug or prostitution. According to testimonies from 13 victims, the police officer subjected them to oral sex and rape.
Scott Adams, the attorney of Daniel Holtzclaw, requested a new trial, a day before the judge sentenced him, according to Oklahoma state court records. However, the request was denied on Thursday.
Adams said that Holtzclaw had an unfair trial because the government made deliberate discovery violations and misrepresentations, undermining confidence in the verdict, as NBC News found in court documents.
“He put a flashlight on my chest. He told me to pull my pants down to my knees. I did that but real quick and pulled them back up again. He pulled out his flashlight and shined it on my privates. I said. ‘Sir, you not supposed to do this.’ He said, ‘Get back into my vehicle.’ I did what he said. I began to get very, very scared,” said Jannie Ligons, who is a grandmother of 12, to CNN.
She described her experience as horrifying and unreal, and added that feared Holtzclaw would kill her, since she told him that what he was doing was not good because he was a police officer. Unfortunately, Ligons had a stroke and then she had to attend therapy.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, each year approximately 293,066 people are victim of rape or sexual assault, which can be translated as 1 sexual assault every 107 seconds. It is also calculated that 44 percent of victims are under 18.
Source: CNN