Two women took the stand wearing handcuffs and orange scrubs
A former Oklahoma City police officer was convicted Thursday of 18 of the 36 counts he faced, including four counts of first-degree rape, related to accusations that he victimized 13 women on his police beat in a minority, low-income neighborhood.
Daniel Holtzclaw, 29, sobbed as the verdict was read aloud. He could spend the rest of his life in prison based on the jury’s recommendations, which include a 30-year sentence on each of the first-degree rape counts. Among the other charges he was convicted of were forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery and second-degree rape.
…
The allegations against Holtzclaw brought new attention to the problem of sexual misconduct committed by law enforcement officers, something police chiefs have studied for years.
During a monthlong trial, jurors heard from 13 women who said Holtzclaw sexually victimized them. Most of them said Holtzclaw stopped them while out on patrol, searched them for outstanding warrants or checked to see if they were carrying drug paraphernalia, then forced himself on them.
It’s one of those jobs, like being a priest, that give you access to victims and a veneer of authority.
Surprisingly, for once, the jury believed the victims.
[D]espite the number of victims, the case presented prosecutors with several challenges.
Many of the women had arrest records or histories of drug abuse. Most hailed from the same neighborhoods in the shadow of the state Capitol. Two women took the stand wearing handcuffs and orange scrubs because they had recently been jailed on drug charges. Another woman admitted on the stand to slipping out of her motel room the night before and procuring marijuana and the hallucinogen PCP.
Holtzclaw’s attorney, Scott Adams, made those issues a cornerstone of his defense strategy. Adams questioned several women at length about whether they were high when they allegedly encountered Holtzclaw. He also pointed out that most did not come forward until police identified them as possible victims after launching their investigation.
Ultimately, that approach did not sway the jury to dismiss the women’s stories.
All of the women are black. Holtzclaw is half-white, half-Japanese. The jury appeared to all be white, though Oklahoma court officials said they did not have race information for jurors. Some supporters of the women questioned whether the jury would fairly judge their allegations.
And yet he was convicted.
Halle-f**king-lujah.
He was found guilty on 18 out of 36 charges, so it’s apparent some of the women were found to be un-believable by virtue of their character.
It was his fellow coppers who investigated this, and made the links between the cases: more power to them. When he was led out, he apeared to say to the jury “How could you do this to me?”
One of the women he assaulted was 57, one was 17. They all have the same story, they were terrified because he was a cop.
Canada has recently seen a series of scandals involving the sexual misconduct of police officers with Aboriginal women. The latest occurred in a Quebec town called Val-d’Or and the investigation is ongoing. There are a lot of cases of missing/disappeared ( murdered? ) aboriginal women.
This case has caused me to think about what may be happening to Indigenous Australian women at the hands of the police. Making news at the moment – the findings of enquiries (looks like more than one) – into the behaviour of Victoria Police to women within and without its ranks:
(Go to any of the Fairfax online papers eg. The Age, and use ‘Victoria Police’ as a search term – the first ten or so articles relate the the findings of the commission or gender inequality and gendered abuse within Victoria Police. The Australian Broadcasting Website would be a good place to look also).
“The Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission inquiry into predatory behaviour by Victoria Police found officers preyed on vulnerable victims of crime, particularly victims of family violence, and misused the power and trust placed in them.
The small minority of officers, the report stated, misused their authority to “devastating effect” by commencing or attempting to commence an intimate personal or sexual relationship with victims of crime.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/family-violence-victims-most-common-prey-of-predatory-victoria-police-ibac-report-released-20151202-glda71#ixzz3u9pImWIa
“The damning review of the culture inside Victoria Police shows female members – as well as gay and lesbian employees – work in an entrenched culture of sexual harassment and discrimination.”
http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/blue-on-blue-sexual-harassment-inside-vicpol-by-the-numbers-20151208-glilku
I have not yet seen Indigenous people referred to in any of my reading on the subject. But I think the reason for that is **unlikely** to be because Australian Indigenous women and police officers are abused less than others in the community and police force.
Ugh. Thanks for pointing this out.
[…] not just Oklahoma cops, it’s not just US cops. Via teslalivia in a comment: Tammy Mills at the Sydney Morning Herald […]