Former Oklahoma City policeman Daniel Holtzclaw was found guilty of multiple charges of sexual assault Thursday. This 29-year old man, who according to CNN is half white and half Japanese, has been the center of another episode of the intersection between race and police in the United States.
He is also an Eastern Michigan football alum.
The former EMU linebacker faced 36 charges, including four counts of rape and four counts of forced oral sodomy, against 13 women over a six-month period.
All of his victims were African-American.
He was convicted on 18 accounts. When the conviction was read at 8:00 p.m., Central Standard Time, this 200+ pound, 6 foot 1 inch ex-linebacker hung his head and cried, according to theNBC News. He turned 29 today.
The jury that convicted him was all white—this in a city, which, according to the census, is 75.1 percent white, 7.7 percent black, 9 percent Native American/Alaskan Native and 2.1 percent Asian.
Several sources say that Holtzclaw went after African-American women in poor neighborhoods of the city. He would find his victims, whose ages ranged from 17 to mid-50s, while on patrol. He would use his authority to get them to stop. Then Holtzclaw would threaten them with warrants or drug arrests. It seems that Holtzclaw believed that his victims would not go to the police, and if they did, no one would believe them.
Prosecutor Gayland Gieger said Holtzclaw was getting “more bold, more brazen, more violent.”
This, along with the all-white jury, brought the situation to the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement, especially when it was revealed that several black potential jurors were passed over for the eight white men and four white women who were selected from an original pool of 24.
It all ended after his last victim did go to the police to make a report. An investigation was launched. It ended for him when he wasarrested outside of a Gold's Gym, Aug. 21, 2014.
According to several sources, 13 women took the stand to testify against Holtzclaw, with very similar stories to tell.
While he was atEastern, he earned All-American awards and completed 330 tackles according toemueagles.com.
Add up all of the convictions and Holtzclaw is facing up to 260 years in jail. According toCBS News, sentencing will take place January 21.
