Jury deliberations continue in trial of white cop who allegedly raped 13 black women
Holtzclaw, a 28-year-old former Oklahoma City police officer, is an alleged sexual predator who prosecutors say used his badge to rape at least 13 women over a seven-month period. The alleged victims of his increasingly brazen pattern of attacks, prosecutors say, included an underage girl and a grandmother. Ranging in age from 17 to 57, all but one are black and all live in the same poverty-stricken, predominantly African-American neighborhood in the northeast section of the city.
They were picked because they were black and poor. They were picked because the perpetrator thought nobody would give a damn. It’s been two days since the jury began its deliberations, and there is a growing unease about the potential for a not-guilty verdict.
On Wednesday morning, eight men and four women filed into an Oklahoma courtroom and began their third day of deliberations. As of this writing, there has been no verdict. If convicted, Holtzclaw could face life in prison for 36 felony charges of rape, forcible oral sodomy, burglary, and sexual battery. It is worth noting that while the city population is nearly 40 percent minority, the jury panel is all white.
Some of the accusers said the officer violated them in their own homes while wearing his department-issued uniform. One woman testified that after Holtzclaw ran her name and found an active warrant, he took her to an abandoned school where he raped her. Another said she was forced to perform sex acts on the side of the road. Another said she was sexually violated while handcuffed to a hospital bed. Investigators said they found DNA, from what some believe is an unknown 14th victim, inside the crotch of his uniform.
The last accuser to testify was only 17 when, she said, Holtzclaw raped her on her mother’s porch just after dark. The officer first told her he needed to search her for drugs, she testified. He first groped her under her clothes before pushing his fingers into her vagina, she said, then he unzipped the fly of his trousers and raped her. The youngest of the accusers—some of them suspected of prostitution or drug possession, others with an active warrant—she wondered out loud: “What kind of police do you call on the police?”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/10/the-most-horrific-cop-rape-case-you-ve-never-heard-of.html
Seems ISIS and Trump has knocked this story completely off the headlines. Nobody is covering it.
It should be noted that there are 36 felonies and a lot of evidence and testimony for the jury to work through. It may simply take awhile to get through them all. The fact that there is still no verdict doesn't necessarily mean there is deadlock.
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