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 In December, an Oklahoma City jury found Daniel Holtzclaw, 29,
guilty on 18 of 36 charges of sexual assault, including rape. The
sentence was given by District Judge Timothy Henderson and came
after victims told the court on Thursday that the former officer had
destroyed their lives.
Prosecutors said Holtzclaw preyed on women who had trouble with the
law and forced them into sex, hoping their word would not hold up
against his in court.
"I so desperately want my life back - the life I had before he took
it away," Jannie Ligons, one of the victims of Holtzclaw, told the
court in an impact statement.
Holtzclaw, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, did not speak on his
own behalf. His lawyers said after the sentence was handed down that
they planned to appeal.
 Another victim, Sherry Ellis, told the court she never thought a
police officer would do what Holtzclaw did.
"He deserves what he gets. There will never be a day where I don't
think of how I was violated," Ellis said.
Ahead of the sentencing, the judge denied a defense motion filed a
day earlier seeking a new trial.
Thirteen women testified against the former officer at his trial
last year, describing encounters in which Holtzclaw forced his
victims to perform sexual acts on him.
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Holtzclaw sexually abused multiple women between December 2013 and
June 2014, targeting victims from a poorer, mostly African-American
area of Oklahoma City, prosecutors said.
Holtzclaw, who did not testify at his trial, was fired over the
accusations in January 2015 after approximately three years on the
job.
He broke down in tears when he was found guilty, telling jurors "I
didn't do it," as he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and James
Dalgleish)
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