Daniel Holtzclaw, an Oklahoma City police officer who was convicted of raping several African American women over a six-month period, was sentenced to 263 years in prison on Thursday.
Last month, Holtzclaw was convicted on 18 of the 36 counts he faced, reports CNN. The counts included four each of first-degree rape and forced oral sodomy.
Prosecutors said that Holtzclaw specifically picked his victims from Oklahoma City’s poorest neighborhoods and he made sure that their had drug or prostitution records. He assumed that their pasts would make it difficult for anyone to believe them if they came forward.
Thirteen of his victims testified during the trial, going into graphic detail of what HOltzclaw would do to them.
On Thursday, one of the victims, an 18-year-old, told Oklahoma County District Judge Timothy Henderson that she now fears for her life whenever she sees the police. “I don't ever go outside, and when I do I'm terrified,” the victim said, reports The Associated Press.
“The stress of the case and fear of being sexually assaulted again has caused an increase in my blood pressure,” a grandmother in her 50s whose complaint ultimately lead to an investigation of Holtzclaw, said Thursday. “I so desperately want my life back."
Although the trial ultimately ended with a conviction, the process was criticized by activists because the jury was all white and all the victims were black. Holtzclaw is half-white, half-Japanese and his father was a police officer.
Holtzclaw will serve his terms consecutively and will never be free for the rest of his life.