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Ex-Cop Found Guilty of Serial Rape, Sexual Assault

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on December 11, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Daniel Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City police officer, was convicted of 18 charges associated with the serial rape and sexual assault of 13 women while on duty. He was charged with over 30 criminal counts and it took the jury 45 hours of deliberations over four days to come to their verdict.

Holtzclaw is half-white, half-Asian, and his victims were all black. All 13 testified at his trial, and their stories are horrifying.

A Story Almost Untold

Holtzclaw probably chose his victims based on their criminal histories, and the likelihood that they would not report the abuse. And his attorneys tried to use that history, some of which included drug possession and prostitution offenses, as a means to discredit their testimony. Prosecutors, on the other hand, alleged Holtzclaw targeted women with arrest warrants, and had a pattern of groping them during drug searches before forcing them to commit sexual acts.

Despite the severity of the allegations and the charges, the case did not garner much national attention. Perhaps it was due to cynicism as well -- many people saw an all-white jury deciding the fate of a former police officer and thought this case would go like Rekia Boyd's or Michael Brown's. That jury instead found Holtzclaw guilty of 18 of the 36 charges against him.

Centuries Behind Bars

Those charges ranged from first-degree and second-degree rape and sexual battery to indecent exposure, stalking, forcible oral sodomy and even burglary. He was found guilty of the following counts, with their corresponding maximum possible sentences:

  • First-Degree Rape: four counts, 30 years each
  • Second-degree Rape: 12 years
  • Sexual Battery: six counts, eight years each
  • Forcible Oral Sodomy: three counts, 16 years each; one count carries 20 years
  • Procuring Lewd Exhibition: three counts, five years each

In total, Holtzclaw is facing 263 years in prison. He was fired from the Oklahoma City Police Department in January of this year. His sentencing will likely take place in January of next year.

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