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The public is now seeing Daniel Holtzclaw speak about the allegations against him for the first time.
The Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office released a recording of the nearly two-hour interrogation of the former Oklahoma City police officer...
Shortly after this interview, Holtzclaw was removed from the force and placed on administrative leave. It was the only time he was interrogated.
He became a notorious chapter in Oklahoma City Police Department history.
This is the story of those who helped bring him to justice.
Daniel Holtzclaw was found guilty of 18 counts of sex crimes on December 10, 2015. The jury recommended a sentence of 263 years in prison.
On January 20, 2016, the day Holtzclaw was to be formally sentenced, his defense attorney filed a motion for a new trial, claiming Holtzclaw was denied a fair trial. The judge then denied the motion for a new trial. After multiple victims read statements in court, the judge sentenced Holtzclaw to serve 263 years in prison, to be served consecutively.
In an all-new special investigation, you are about to see and hear new evidence that some say proves this disgraced cop deserves a new trial.
The Oklahoma Attorney Generals office is fighting to keep Holtzclaw in prison as he appeals his sex-crime convictions. The agency filed a motion recently under seal. According to the limited court records available online attorneys believe the material is exempt from public disclosure by Oklahoma law.
The Attorney Generals office has not publicly provided any statute or legal precedent that would warrant such an exemption from the public record.
A spokesperson for the agency did say Holtzclaws case has not been overturned and the hearing in district court will be an evidentiary hearing. The AGs office was not able to say if the public would have access to the hearing.
FOX 25 has learned that the information the AGs office is referring to was not available to Hotlzclaws original defense attorneys during his initial trial.
The Oklahoma County District Attorneys office, which is not currently involved in the appellate case, told FOX 25 the information is strictly confidential. However DA David Prater wrote in an email that the information filed in the appeal does not allege any wrongdoing by prosecutors in Holtzclaws case. Prater also said the attorneys working on the states case have not discovered new information.
The man responsible for defending the city will not talk about his role in the secret hearings held in connection to the appeal of former Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw.
If you're asking me to guess, Brian Bates (former defense attorney for Holtzclaw) told FOX 25, I would say this is obviously in Daniels favor. The prosecution has circled the wagons. I can guarantee you if any of this information was negative to Daniel they'd have sent it out in a press release.
Even for those convinced of Holtzclaws criminal conviction, there was another party kept in the out; the victims who say they were sexually assaulted. Their lives could be dramatically impacted by the substance and outcome of the hearing but they too were not allowed a representative in the court proceedings.
In response to our request for Open Records with the City of Oklahoma City we received more than 4,000 pages of documents. The request covered emails related to DNA testing and those exchanged between the DNA lab supervisor Campbell Ruddock, who was involved in the secret hearings, and Elaine Taylor the lab expert who testified in Holtzclaws trial.
FOX 25 reported earlier independent DNA experts have identified the police lab expert made mistakes in her testimony during trial and left out potentially important findings. The concerns also indicate the lab expert was testifying outside the bounds of science.
On May 9, 2017, District Attorney David Prater sent an email to all of his prosecutors. Please notify me immediately if you have a pending case wherein Elaine Taylor, OCPD DNA Lab employee, is endorsed as a witness Prater wrote.