Daniel Holtzclaw thinks his accusers were motivated by financial gain.
The former Oklahoma City police officer said investigators handed the victims a “lottery ticket” in a phone interview with ABC News‘ 20/20 Friday.
Police detectives accused Holtzclaw, 29, of committing sex crimes against dozens of women during his patrols of a predominately Black, lower-income neighborhood between the period of December 2013 and June 2014. They alleged Holtzclaw, who is of Caucasian and Japanese descent, primarily targeted women with prior drug or prostitution offenses, believing them less likely to come forward and press charges.
Prosecutors identified 13 women to tell their stories at the trial.
Holtzclaw questioned investigators’ methods of soliciting victims to join the case.
“The fact is, when you approach these women [and say], ‘We have a tip that you’ve been sexually assaulted by an Oklahoma City police officer,’ based on the area that I worked in and the environment and the atmosphere that I worked at — you should know that these women in these lifestyles — that’s basically giving them a lottery ticket to say, ‘Yes’,” Holtzclaw told reporter Juju Chang from prison. “All they had to do was say, ‘Yes,’ and then you’re going to file charges on me.”
Detective Kim Davis was one of the sex crime officials on the case. She told Oklahoma’s News Channel 4 that Holtzclaw believed he was superior to the victims.
“In Daniel’s mind, he didn’t do anything wrong. He is above these people. These people are beneath him. And he didn’t do anything wrong,” Davis said.
She said he lost his chance at redemption by choosing not to take the stand in his defense.
“I feel like if Daniel wasn’t guilty and he wanted people to know he wasn’t guilty, he had every opportunity to get on the stand and explain his story.”
He was convicted by an all-white jury on 18 of 36 counts of rape, forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery and other charges in December 2015. The eight men and four women recommended a sentence of 263 years.
Jannie Ligons, a 58-year-old daycare center director, was one of the first women interviewed by police. Ligons said the convicted serial rapist forced her to perform oral sex on him in the back of his patrol car during a 2 a.m. traffic stop. Though Ligons said she faced a drug arrest decades ago, authorities did not find evidence that she’d ever been charged or convicted in connection with drug addiction or prostitution, according to ABC News.
“Let’s get the factual facts out there. [Ligons is] not innocent the way people think she is. She had a bust in the ’80s … But we couldn’t present that to the jury,” Holtzclaw said in the 20/20 interview. “This is not a woman that’s, you know, a soccer mom or someone that’s credible in society.”
Holtzclaw continues to maintain his innocence and told NBC’s KFOR he refuses to feel guilt for doing his duty as an officer.
“I will not feel remorse for something I didn’t do. I am not guilty for any [of] these crimes. I did not do anything of [a] sexual nature. I did not come on to any of these women. I did my job to the fullest of my ability which I gave an oath, sworn to protect and serve, and that’s what I did.”