OKC jury convicts former policeman of 18 sexual assault counts

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A jury ultimately convicted ex-Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw of sexual abuse charges related to eight of the 13 women who testified against him.

Among those accusers was the woman who launched the police investigation into Holtzclaw. A grandmother in her 50s, the woman said Holtzclaw pulled her car over, ordered her into the backseat of his squad car, and stood over her as he demanded oral sex.

She was the first to testify. The last was a teenager who said the 29-year-old Holtzclaw raped her on her mother’s front porch.

Holtzclaw’s attorney focused heavily on whether accusers with drug histories and criminal records were credible. But the jury also convicted him of forcible oral sodomy against a woman who testified wearing orange scrubs and handcuffs.