Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City cop recently convicted on 13 counts of sexual assault and other related charges, targeted women with criminal histories that included drug possession and prostitution thinking that if it came to it, he could assassinate their character and testimony in court.
On Thursday, December 11th, Holtzclaw’s 29th birthday, Daniel Holtzclaw got a birthday gift he’ll never forget for raping at least 13 black women–263 years in prison.
After the verdict many media outlets reported that the victims mocked Holtzclaw by singing “Happy Birthday” as the serial rapist was led out of the courtroom.
Now folks on social media are piling on with some teasing of their own on the Facebook page set up by Holtzclaw’s family, [**Justice for Daniel Holtzclaw**](https://www.facebook.com/Justice-for-Daniel-Holtzclaw-1509057449330490/?fref=ts), which they used to gain social media support, sell “Free the Claw” T-shirts as well as raise money for bail and his legal defense.
The comments from social media savvy posters would be comical if this weren’t such a tragic case of abuse by authority.
In one post, Holtzclaw’s father Eric Holtzclaw, poses for a selfie while wearing a “Free the Claw” T-shirt. Meanwhile, several Facebook posters shared their thoughts after the verdict, which can be seen below.
*Eric Holtzclaw, a 17 year veteran and lieutenant of the Enid Police Department poses for a selfie wearing a “Free the Claw” T-shirt, which were sold on the “Support for Daniel Holtzclaw” page.*
Hundreds of posters chimed in about the case. PINAC was able to capture a few screenshots before the family realizes the futility of the page and takes it down.
We were also captured the page’s info section.
This isn’t the first time social media renounced the Holtzclaws. [**According to CNN,**](http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/04/justice/oklahoma-city-police-sexual-assault/) in September of 2014, Holtzclaw’s family raised around $7,300 on a popular crowd-funding site only to be shut down a few days later after GoFundMe.com disassociated itself from the cause due to the nature of the subject matter for which the Holtzclaw’s were raising money.
The Holtzclaw family then resorted to using a Paypal address instead, which can be found on their [**Facebook page**](https://www.facebook.com/Justice-for-Daniel-Holtzclaw-1509057449330490/?fref=ts).
Daniel’s father, Eric Holtzclaw (seen above), a lieutenant with the Enid Police Department, has maintained his son’s innocence throughout the ordeal, which is not only typical of members of the thin blue line, but families of police who commit crimes.
The Holtzclaw verdict is an important one. Because many observers criticized the trial before it even took place, claiming it was unfair to be heard by an all-white jury. Victims of Hotlzclaw said they feared for their lives, which is understandable since he used his badge and position of authority to commit crimes against them and counted on nobody believing them.
Obviously, that wasn’t the case. And the jury did believe them. This verdict is an anomaly because it appears justice was actually served for victims of police crimes unlike so many other cases where police walk away unpunished. Still, victims of Holtzclaw say they’ll wait until formal sentencing before they say justice was served. The jury deliberated for 4 days, convicting Holtzclaw of 18 out of 36 counts of rape.
His formal sentencing will be held on January, 21st of 2016. If his sentence is upheld, that would truly be justice for Daniel Holtzclaw and his victims who he counted on to to be voiceless victims nobody would believe. Thanks to social media and sharing stories like these, it appears that slowly but surely the general public is catching on and believing marginalized victims of police abuse.
And the comments on Holtzclaw’s Facebook page provide a glimmer of hope that people really are finally starting to get it and are able to see through the lies of police who hide behind the cowardice of the so-called thin blue line.
