Daniel Holtzclaw, the 29-year-old Oklahoma City police officer accused of rape and sexual battery against 13 women, was found guilty on 18 of 36 charges on Dec. 10, reports The Atlantic.
Holtzclaw raped and assaulted multiple black women in the neighborhood under his watch. According to The Atlantic:
The 13 women who brought allegations against him shared their stories with BuzzFeed. Taken together, they describe a pattern of predatory behavior in which Holtzclaw used his status as a police officer both to coerce his victims during their assaults and to intimidate from coming forward afterwards.
Prosecutors also noted a tendency to target women whose credibility would be questioned by both law enforcement and society in general.
During the trial, defense attorneys tried to challenge the victims’ credibility by emphasizing their criminal records to the jury and asking about their past drug use. Holtzclaw’s family also accused the victims of fabricating their stories.
Read more here.
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