Tag Archives: law enforcement

Daniel Holtzclaw: Did the system really fail?

Disclaimer:

We, at War on Corruption, LLC. are not saying that Daniel Holtzclaw is innocent, we are fully aware that he violated multiple policies which ultimately assisted in his downfall. In this article, we are merely discussing the topics that have led to debate. While we do acknowledge that there are many more questions surrounding his case, it is a very complex situation and would require multiple articles to fully address. Therefore, we are simply opening a door for discussion. At the end of this article, we have added additional links of information. These are so that any person interested may conduct their research and come to their own conclusion regarding the case. The article does not cover everything. This is due to the complexity of the case; it simply would require multiple articles to address the case in full.

Introduction

The case of Daniel Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City Police Officer, has always been shrouded with debate. Starting with the questionable tactics used by the investigators, questionable witnesses, and even the evidence itself, there has always been scrutiny. For years, we have sat on this story, unsure as to rather or not it was one that should be written. It is very complicated, it may potentially open old wounds, or it simply may expose just how corrupt our justice system actually is. Either way, we’ve finally decided that it was time to write the article that will, without doubt, be our most controversial one. We’re going to discuss the Daniel Holtzclaw case and the problems within it.

Where it all began

Rather or not Holtzclaw sexually assaulted multiple women remains heavily debated. What isn’t debated, however, is the fact that he did initiate traffic stops to which he failed to report. While this alone does not prove guilt, it is a clear violation of protocol. Regardless of this violation, it was learned that Holtzclaw had initiated stops in, such as this, before.

Originally, he was faced with a total of 36 sexual based crimes. Among these were rape, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy, and the list goes on. Out of the 36, Holtzclaw would be convicted of 18. With this conviction, began a very heated debate. This is a debate that is still ongoing. The only question to ask is why are people debating his guilt?

Originally, Holtzclaw was charged with more than 30 counts of sexually based crimes. However, by the end of his trial, only 18 would land convictions. Why is that? The simple answer is due to the lack of evidence and credibility issues with the alleged victims. That leads us to ask the most obvious question, “who are these victims?”

The Victims

The women who made accusations against Holtzclaw had a few key similarities with one another. To start, they were all lower class, they were all Black, had interactions with Holtzclaw, and criminal backgrounds. While this has shed light into their credibility, this isn’t the main discussion when it comes to his victims. The discussion is rather or not Holtzclaw did anything at all. According to one victim, Tabitha Barnes, he apparently never lay a hand on her, though she had testified differently.

During the trial, Barnes had testified that Holtzclaw had inappropriately touched her breasts. Ultimately, her testimony was among the charges to which Holtzclaw was found guilty. But there’s a problem with her accusation, an issue that would come much later. As though having a change of heart matters, Barnes has done a complete 180 on her original testimony, now stating that he never did anything to her. In simple terms, she sat in a courtroom, under oath, and fabricated a story that got the former officer convicted. For this, you don’t need to take our word for it, you can watch the video for yourself, we’ve included it below.

While Barnes ultimately recanted her story, she was not alone in having a retraction in statement. Sherry Ellis Smith would later admit to never seeing Holtzclaw prior to the trial. In total, Daniel would be accused of more than thirty sexually based crimes, but only convicted of eighteen, giving him a grand total of 263 years in prison. We can go on and on about this subject, but the article isn’t about the victims. Ultimately, the question is, could Daniel have been innocent of the crimes?

The original accuser, 57 Y.O. Jenny Wiggins, the woman who initially triggered the investigation, has also been a focal point of debate. Prior to her being pulled over, it was discovered that her license had actually been suspended for around thirty years, she had also admitted to using the controlled substance, Cannabis shortly before the encounter. Furthermore, there would be no evidence on this victim linking her to Holtzclaw. The only link is in the interaction, to which he was in policy violation by conducting. The violation being that he failed to notify dispatch and disabling the car’s computer.

During the encounter with Holtzclaw, Wiggins claimed that he had her place her hands on the hood of his patrol car. However, there was no evidence on his car that supported this claim. The investigators explanation for this lack of evidence? The car was full of trash and therefore finding a fingerprint on the outside would be impossible. This is alarming because most of us know that the inside of a vehicle does not affect the outside. With that in mind, we have to ponder on how they were unable to find a simple fingerprint. Beyond this, we cannot ignore the fact that Wiggins actually had changed her story several times. In fact, the description she had given of Holtzclaw was completely off. She described him as having blonde hair and being several inches shorter than what he actually is. It’s important to note that Holtzclaw stands at just over six feet, a hard to miss feature. But this isn’t the only issue within the case. We will link a video that further discusses this in the links below.

The Evidence

Looking at the evidence used, at best, it wasn’t the greatest. In other words, it left a lot of room for debate, and it has. Aside the accusers, many whom had been discredited, and the later retraction, there was nothing that we could100% state tied Holtzclaw to anything criminal. The only thing we can say concretely is this: he broke policy by turning off the computer system in his patrol car, but that doesn’t mean he committed a crime.

The trial was a very heated and emotionally charged one, this was clear to anybody who followed it. Being charged for multiple crimes, primarily on no evidence aside from verbal statements, is absolutely terrifying, but it demonstrates a phrase that we have stated multiple times before: “Sex based crimes are the easiest to charge because they do not require evidence.” Did they have any evidence aside from verbal statements? They had one thing: one sample of DNA belonging to a 17 Y.O. girl, as well as an unknown male. Regardless of its location, this DNA is up for debate.

Under normal circumstances, DNA is a fairly reliable source of forensics. It’s so reliable that it’s used in virtually every criminal case. For the Holtzclaw case, however, it’s been one of many targets for debate. The DNA was located on the outside of the former officer’s pants, near the zipper. For some, this is concrete enough to suggest his guilt. But is it? Well, no. While we wish it were that simple, it’s not. If the officer had any form of contact with the girl, regardless of it being sexual or not, it’s very plausible that this DNA, being skin cells, would have gotten onto the former officer, including his hands. If he had done something as simple as using the restroom, that alone would explain why they were in the location that they were.

What we couldn’t find, when looking at this particular form of evidence, was anything implicating that semen was located in the area. The fact of the matter is, if he had committed such an act, this would had most likely been present. If not, at minimum, pre-ejaculatory fluid, and yet we have found nothing implicating its presence, an abnormality in that he allegedly committed more than one crime while wearing them, and yet that florfenicol evidence was not present.

Regardless of all of the issues, we do know that Holtzclaw was trying to get close to some of the women he had contact with, however unprofessional that might be, it doesn’t necessarily mean he was trying to force anybody into such contacts with him. During his career, he had a couple of major issues involving Facebook messages and visiting a residence of a woman to which he had contact with while on duty. While this isn’t conclusive evidence to support he did anything illegal, it ultimately did come back to bite him at the worst possible time. Again, while the DNA is questionable, as mentioned, we can’t ignore that it was there and where it was located. For this, we would call that a double-edged sword; it doesn’t prove guilt, doesn’t prove innocence, but really looks bad for him.

Conclusion

Links

The following links are for informational purposes only. The links are not representative of the platform’s views or opinions of the case.

The fight for release

https://chng.it/qpWfRyhwZN

Daniel Holtzclaw | Wrongfully Convicted Officer | UNCUFF (uncufftheinnocent.org)

Daniel Holtzclaw Case Analysis | Investigators Restore Memories of Victims Who Forgot Cop’s Crimes – YouTube

Articles related to the case

How does INTERROGATION Work? Serial Offender – Daniel Holtzclaw – YouTube

Trial for former Oklahoma police officer accused of rape begins | Reuters

HOLTZCLAW v. STATE (okcca.net)

The UnTold Story — HoltzclawTrial.com

OSCN Case Details

Ep18: Lots Of Liars — HoltzclawTrial.com

Amanda Knox: “How Could He Be Innocent?”: The Case of Daniel Holtzclaw | Crime Story

Former OKC police officer Daniel Holtzclaw sentenced to 263 years in prison (koco.com)

How the Daniel Holtzclaw Jury Decided to Send the Ex-Oklahoma City Police Officer to Prison for 263 Years – ABC News (go.com)

Family claims there’s proof victim of former Oklahoma City officer Daniel Holtzclaw recanted (kfor.com)

Uvalde Police: A review into their lack of action

The horrific shooting, which occurred in Uvalde Texas, has been discussed on multiple platforms. The shooting occurred when an 18 y.o. coward, Salvador Ramos, proceeded to walk into the Robb Elementary school and began to open fire on both, children and teachers. While this was a horrific event that has devastated many families, this isn’t our focal point. Instead, we are focusing on the police department and how they (didn’t) respond.

It’s standard that officers are trained for deadly situations, this includes mass shootings. In fact, law enforcement agencies run drills for such events. With that in mind, it leads to one question: Why did it take the Uvalde police 77 minutes to stop the shooter? For this, we’re going to have to review the timeline of events. In doing so, we can make a determination of exactly how long it took the Uvalde police to actually respond.

While we can say that this event took place very recently, the shooting was actually planned long before it occurred. In September of 2021, we know that the shooter requested his sister to purchase him a weapon. The reason for this is because, according to Federal law, you must be 18 years of age to buy a rifle. However, you must be 21 years of age to buy a pistol. Thankfully, in this situation, his sister declined his request.

At around March 1-3, 2022, images of weapons would be posted to the shooter’s Instagram account. On one such post, the shooter states the following, “10 more days.” To this, a user, ironically enough, asked about rather or not he had plans of shooting up a school. Around two months later, he would purchase weapons for the shooting.

The shooter’s final day

At roughly 11:00 AM, Ramos sent a Facebook message. This message was directed to a German girl that he had met online. In this message, he states that he planned to shoot his grandmother in the face. He than proceeded to carry out the act, however she called law enforcement. He than proceeds to steal her car and crashes it near Robb Elementary, the final phase of his diabolical plan.

We know that he arrived at the school at 11:28. two minutes later, a teacher made a call to 9-1-1, informing them of the urgent situation. As Ramos proceeded to the building, he had already begun to fire rounds. He entered the building at 11:33, where he would roam around the building with the intent of taking as many lives as he possibly could.

The critical time in this sequence is 11:35. This is the time police arrived on scene. Although they proceeded to the door, previously used by Ramos, it was found to be closed. This meant the police could not enter the building. Presumably through another door, the police proceed to enter. Upon doing so, they are met with gunfire which results in grazing wounds.

Now, to explain what a grazing wound is. In short, it means that the officers were hit, but it barely went into them. Basically, it’s a very minor wound. Regardless of the fact that they outnumbered the shooter, the proceed to evacuate the school, leaving the shooter to take more lives. Within minutes, 16 additional rounds are heard from within the building. At 11:43, in what can only be an amazing display of incompetence, the Uvalde Police take to Facebook, posting that the school is under lockdown due to a shooter. They go onto to say the following, “The students and staff are safe in the building.” Since this time, the post itself was deleted but how could they have posted something so blatantly untrue?

At 11:43, the police again post to Facebook. In this post they claim to have the shooter in custody. If you have been following this case, you already know that this information is untrue, the shooter was actually fatally shot by a lone border patrol agent. While this information may seem minor, it’s important to note one major problem: Ramos was still very much alive and he was still firing his weapons inside the school.

It would be at 12:50 PM, around 77 minutes after the shooting began, that a border patrol agent, who refused to wait for backup, entered the school. This one brave man ultimately did what the Uvalde police were to incompetent to do: he eliminated the threat. How could the police have gotten so much of this wrong? Now, it’s time we review that.

What went wrong?

From reviewing the timeline of events, it is very clear that the Uvalde police were incompetent. But why? As I mentioned, law enforcement agencies typically train for this sort of event. Based on the fact that they were so quick to flee the building and stand around, it’s clear that this department on how to handle this situation. For that, I don’t blame the officers personally. To simply state this, they have no control over the training procedures. The blame in this instance would go toward the local government and the police chief. These individuals are tasked with ensuring that their officers are capable of handling events such as this.

Moving beyond that, we can hold the officers responsible for their abrupt evacuation of the building. Because of this choice, many more lives were needlessly taken. While I can understand the concept of fear, it is also important to recognize that these are men and women who signed up to run into danger, not away from it. While they stood outside, as we’ve seen, they proceeded to provide false information to the public. Stating that the individual was in custody, long before his life would be ended, is appalling! Not only did the combination of these two things make the department look bad, but it has also created a massive backlash on social media, more on that shortly.

Shortly after the threat was eliminated, the police would again state that he was in custody. Now, I don’t think I need to state the obvious, but I will. There is a fundamental difference in being fatally shot and being in custody. How so? One infers that the offender is still alive while the other one is rather obvious. By stating that he was in custody, they provided more false information in that they gave the perception that Ramos was still breathing. Now, let’s go into that social media backlash.

As a result of the horrific mishandling of this situation, the department’s Facebook page has been met with heavy critique. Reviews that slam the department’s incompetence are very common. To quote one such review, “great place to shoot kids. All the cops are cowards. 0/10 would defund.” This, and many other reviews, demonstrate just how the public feels about this department. However, the department had demonstrated exactly why the “anti-police” movement has gone into full throttle. People have every right to be upset at this department, and they absolutely should be. What this department did was unethical, and as a result of the department’s choices, many more lives were taken.

It’s clear that this law enforcement department has some serious integrity problems. It’s also clear that their training is in desperate need of an overhaul. Though they will continue to get backlash, for sometime, we do hope that they take this opportunity to review their policies and procedures. Even with much needed changes, it will not undo the events of that day. To those families, we can only offer our deepest condolences.


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