EP 20: Rosetta Grate wrap-up (2-of-2)
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Below is a video containing both of the jailhouse interviews between accuser Rosetta Grate and Oklahoma City Sex Crimes Detectives Kim Davis and Valorie Homan.
Below are the official investigative reports regarding accuser Rosetta Grate’s allegations…
Below is the map investigators produced to show the route Oklahoma City patrol officer Daniel Holtzclaw took when transporting accuser Grate to her residence.
Accuser Grate claimed in her audio/video recorded interview with detectives that officer Holtzclaw never called her in for a warrant check and never called her in when he transported her. She even wrote the following handwritten letter to Det. Davis reaffirming that Holtzclaw never called in that he was transporting her - stating that other officers who transported her did call in them illegal and that “This officer [Holtzclaw] never made that call.” As played in episode 20, officer Holtzclaw actually DID call in accuser Grate for warrants and DID call in the transport.
Below are photos taken by investigators during the execution of a search warrant on the home where accuser Grate was living at the time.
Below is the KFOR news story regarding Rosetta Grate’s 8/27/2014 false 9-1-1 call…
TRANSCRIPT, PHOTOS AND POLICE REPORTS COMING SOON!
TRANSCRIPT:
Episode 20 ׀ Daniel Holtzclaw: Rosetta Grate Allegations
Disclaimer: This podcast deals with adult subject matter, including depictions of drug addiction, prostitution, sexual assault, and rape. Parental guidance is suggested.
00:10 [OPENING AUDIO COLLAGE]
Newscaster: Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, with the Police Department for three years, is accused of raping and sexually assaulting women he pulled over while on the job.
Jannie Liggons: He said, ‘Come on, come on, just a minute, just a minute’. I say, ‘Sir, I can’t do this’. I say, ‘you gonna shoot...’
Det. Kim Davis: Tell me your description of him.
Sherri Ellis: He’s black.
Det. Kim Davis: He’s b—okay, black male.
Det. Kim Davis: What did your daughter tell you?
Amanda Gates: She said, ‘I met this really hot cop’.
Shardayreon Hill: So, this is good evidence?
Det. Rocky Gregory: Well, you tell me.
[OPENING AUDIO COLLAGE ENDS]
Timestamp: The following episode contains investigative events which occurred on August 27, 2014.
00:58
Host: Welcome back to Bates Investigates: Season One - In Defense of Daniel Holtzclaw. I am your host, Private Investigator, and original member of Daniel Holtzclaw's jury trial defense team, Brian Bates, and this is episode twenty. In the last episode, you heard, in her own words, thirty-eight year old accuser, Rosetta Grate, detail how she claims she encountered Oklahoma City Patrol Officer Daniel Holtzclaw and how he allegedly drove her to her residence, went inside, followed her upstairs, forced her to perform oral sex upon him, and then vaginally raped her. You also heard her profess that she could unequivocally prove she had indeed had sexual contact with the officer. In this episode, I will explore how Rosetta Grate got involved in this case, the details of her allegations, my impressions of the investigation into those allegations, and what substantiates, negates, or otherwise casts doubts on those assertions. As I mentioned at the beginning of episode nineteen, those two jailhouse interviews with Grate can be hard to understand. And if you didn't get through the entire episode or you think there were parts you missed, that’s okay. I will be covering all of the relevant details in this episode. Additionally, the transcript for episode nineteen is posted to that episode's homepage at holtzclawtrial.com, along with the video from both of those jailhouse interviews. So, if you want to go back and watch or read those interviews for yourself, I invite you to do so. With all of that out of the way, let’s dive right into this episode. Rosetta Grate told Detectives Kim Davis and Valerie Homan that she encountered Patrol Officer Daniel Holtzclaw while she was in the area of Northeast Fourteenth and Jordan Avenue. She doesn't recall the date. She thinks it was the end of April or the beginning of May of 2014. She does, however, remember it was still daylight outside when all of this happened.
03:09
Grate, an admitted drug addict who often engages in street level prostitution to fund her addiction, claims she was relapsing at the time and that she was out getting high and turning tricks when Patrol Officer Daniel Holtzclaw rolled up on her. Grate told Detective Davis she had just smoked some crack cocaine and that, while she was headed home, she was also trying to catch another prostitution customer or 'date' as she calls it. Officer Holtzclaw slows to a stop, rolls down his window, and tells her to hold up right there for just a minute. He gets out of his patrol call and begins to talk to Grate. He inquires as to what she's up to, why she is loitering about in that area—really just general cop on patrol in a high crime area kinda stuff. Grate says she was upfront and honest with the officer, telling him straight up that she was getting high. Even allegedly going so far as to admit as to what house is selling her drugs. Grate claims that she told the officer that she was relapsing, had been out doing things she shouldn't be doing, hanging out in areas she shouldn't be in, and was fighting with her boyfriend who was mad about her drug use. Holtzclaw searched Grate's purse and found a small glass crack pipe. She says he made her break it. She doesn't go into detail, but it's a pretty common occurrence that officers who encounter such paraphernalia have the individual toss it to the ground and then grind it into pieces with their foot. Holtzclaw places Grate's purse on the top of his patrol car, has Grate take a seat in the back, and he gets in the driver's side. She claims Holtzclaw never bothered to run her for warrants or to verify her identity. Grate explained to the officer that she was headed home, but that she kept getting solicited for prostitution, and getting dropped off back in the area. Holtzclaw then offered to take Grate to the house that she was living in with her boyfriend in the six hundred block of Culbertson. During the drive, Grate said that the officer asked her about her prostitution activities; specifically, what sex acts she performed on her customers. Grate replied that she mostly likely "gives head."
05:21
When they arrived, Grate claims that Holtzclaw didn't just stop on the street and let her out - instead, he pulled up into the driveway like he lived there, or like it was an everyday occurrence. As Grate got out of the patrol car, she turned around and looked in the backseat for her purse. That's when she realized Holtzclaw never gave it back to her. She looks towards the roof of the patrol car, but it was gone. It had been left there and fallen off in route to her home. Grate said Officer Holtzclaw offered to go back and look for her purse, but later testified that she told him not to even bother, even though she claims that purse contained her driver's license, some makeup, her bus pass, and other personal possessions. Regardless, she then began to walk inside the house and noticed Officer Holtzclaw was following her. She said she assumed he was trying to verify she actually lived there. So, she goes inside. Officer Holtzclaw follows. Grate said she then does some sort of a impromptu tour for the officer. ‘This is the living room. This is the kitchen. This is the den. That’s the upstairs.’ With that, Grate says she walks upstairs to the second floor. There she points out her boyfriend's bedroom. ‘This is Will's room and this over there, that’s my bedroom.’ Grate says that at this point Officer Holtzclaw tells her to have a seat on the edge of her bed. She complies, still allegedly not questioning why the officer is inside her home. Holtzclaw then allegedly starts unzipping his pants and replies "This is better than County." Grate knew what she had to do: perform oral sex on the officer or go to jail. Holtzclaw grabbed the back of a wooden chair that was in the bedroom and in his way so he moved it, but allegedly kept one hand on it during the initial sex act. She said Holtzclaw exposed his penis through the fly of his uniform pants. She commented that his gun kept "slapping me in the face." She said Holtzclaw moved it at her request. Grate commented that Holtzclaw's penis was "unclean" referring to hairs and such. She said she wiped her mouth after she started performing oral sex because of those hairs and then wiped her hand on the back of the chair. At some point Holtzclaw told her to stop and to lay back on the bed. Grate has no recollection as to what she was wearing, but doesn't remember taking any clothes off, so she assumes she was wearing a dress with no underwear.
08:02
Grate says she also was fearful of getting anything on the comforter and upsetting her boyfriend, so she moved it back. She said that Holtzclaw had her scoot to the edge of the bed so that it would be easier for him to have vaginal sex with her. Grate also mentioned that she grabbed the wooden running board of the bed with the same hand she had previously wiped her mouth with. Grate said he then began having vaginal intercourse with her and she specifically pointed out he wasn't wearing a condom. In fact, she told Detective Davis that most of her prostitution customers don't wear condoms. At the point when Grate says she's confident Officer Holtzclaw ejaculated, she said she thought she heard her boyfriend, Will, come home. She exclaimed to Holtzclaw, ‘I think I hear the front door!’ Nobody was there, but Holtzclaw stopped, got off of her, zipped himself back up, went downstairs and left. She said the entire encounter at her house lasted at least thirty minutes. Grate said after Holtzclaw left, and since he had ejaculated inside of her, she used a hand towel she found in the closet to clean herself. She then tossed the soiled rag back into the closet. She even remembered it was a dish cloth—mostly likely white with a blue stripe. Detective Davis makes a note that there should be Holtzclaw's DNA on the chair, the bed rail or box springs cover, and the discarded rag. She asks Grate about the bedding itself, but Grate insists it's been washed at least twice. Although Grate’s boyfriend, Will, had not apparently come home at that point, he allegedly did so not long after the officer left. She claims she told Will what had happened and that Will wasn't very happy about it and claimed that this wouldn't have happened had she not relapsed. Grate mentions that the couple who live across the street may have seen Officer Holtzclaw or his patrol car parked at her house. Detective Davis makes another note to try and contact the neighbor. Grate told the detectives that that was the first time that she had ever encountered Officer Holtzclaw, but it wasn't the last. She said that not too long after the rape, she was walking back from buying dope with a male friend who goes by the street name ‘Eastside’. They had just bought some crack cocaine and were headed back to the male's house.
10:34
This was around Northeast Sixteenth and Highland. Holtzclaw pulled up in his patrol car. He had his window down and he yelled, ‘Hey! Hey!’ He was also allegedly laughing just a bit. She said he was acting like he was just some sort of normal acquaintance of hers. She said she told her male friend she wasn't going to stop and that they kept walking. She said they went behind Eastside’s house and stayed there because they saw Holtzclaw circling the block four or five times. Eastside asked Grate what was up with the officer. Grate said she told him "he made me suck and fuck him." Grate goes on to describe Holtzclaw to the detectives. He drives the new all black patrol car. He's white, kind of Italian looking, a real thoroughbred of a weight lifter, dark hair, all muscles and really good looking. Detectives ended their interview of Grate by taking a buccal swab or DNA sample from the inside of her cheek. And that's it, that's her allegation. She ran into Officer Holtzclaw while high on crack cocaine and engaging in street prostitution. He took her home, followed her inside, and gave her an ultimatum - sex or jail. She said it wasn't much of a choice, so she gave the officer what he obviously wanted. And it's an emotionally gut wrenching set of facts. Or at least it is if it's true. But is it? Before I get into the details of Grate's allegations, I think it's important to remind you how exactly her name even became involved in this case. Like with virtually all of the other accusers, Rosetta Grate's name simply appeared on a list created out of thin air by Lieutenant Tim Muzny. A list that initially comprised of all of the women Officer Holtzclaw had run through his police databases. That list was then arbitrarily reduced to black females with a history of drugs and/or prostitution. In September of 2014, Detective Davis went to the address listed for Grate, which happened to actually be her father's address in the seven hundred block of Northeast Thirty Second. When Detective's Davis and Homan showed up at that address, they met Grate's father, Johnnie, and Johnnie's girlfriend, Michelle. Johnnie Grate told the detectives that Rosetta didn't live there; she just stopped in from time to time when she "needed to rest."
13:07
Then Detective Davis did something that I personally think is inexcusable. She's been told the person she's looking for doesn't even live at that address, yet she decides it's appropriate to tell an uninvolved third party that she thinks the person she is looking for has been sexually assaulted and if they see her that they should have the person call them. Now, if that isn't tainting any information you might get from that person, I don't know what is. That being said, if true, Johnnie Grate says something that doesn't bode well for Holtzclaw. Johnnie reportedly replies, "Are you talking about that officer?" Detective Davis asked Johnnie to explain what he meant and Johnnie replied. He said his daughter had come to him about a month ago and said that some cop had taken her somewhere and forced her to perform oral sex on him. There's no sugar coating this revelation. If you believe Holtzclaw is innocent you've got to be asking yourself, why did Rosetta Grate's father make that statement if it isn't true? And, I have to admit, it caused me to pause also. It was actually one of just a few of the allegations that made me initially feel Daniel Holtzclaw was at least guilty of some of the things he was being accused of. It took getting a lot more information before I realized these allegations are not nearly as straight forward as they appear. I think Detective Davis initially and maliciously worded her police report to unfairly give more credibility to Johnnie's statement than it deserves. As with all of the episodes, you can read Detective Davis' reports concerning Grate's allegations at this episode's homepage at holtzclawtrial.com. Detective Davis, according to her official investigative report, intentionally says "I told Johnnie I had received information that Rosetta might have been sexually assaulted." She doesn't say she said, ‘I have received information that Rosetta might have been sexually assaulted by a police officer.’ Just that Rosetta may have been assaulted. And that's important.
15:24
However, up to this point in the investigation into Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, we know for fact that Detective Davis personally sought out and handled the investigation into the allegations attributed to accusers Florene Mathis, Sherry Ellis, and Carla Johnson, and in all of those cases she proclaimed up front that she had a tip that they had been sexually assaulted by an Oklahoma City Police Officer. And as we know, there was never a tip; just a list that had no evidentiary basis. Are we to believe that she changed her wording in Rosetta's investigation? And again, it's important. If she truly left out the part about the suspect being an Oklahoma City Police Officer, that makes Johnnie's reply very incriminating against Holtzclaw. How else would he have known a police officer might even be involved if Detective Davis didn't mention it? That said, if in reality she did mention a police officer and all of the local and national news has been abuzz with the reports of an Oklahoma City Police Officer getting arrested for raping black females in the Northeast side… well, it's not such a huge leap to suspect Johnnie simply picked up on that and is lying. And, Johnnie will be caught in a lie when the criminal trial rolls around in a future episode. Additionally, remember, the detectives had to track Rosetta down, she didn't come forward and she didn't even bother to call the detectives after they left a card and instructions with her father to do just that. But, yet, she claims she did. In fact, she's adamant she did. And you can even tell by the detectives’ reaction, they don't appear to believe her. Also, the detectives approached Johnnie Grate on August 15, 2014 and interviewed Rosetta for the first time on August 27th in jail. That's only twelve days later. Which begs the question, when did Rosetta actually learn about detectives looking for her? Was it in that short window before she was arrested, or was it actually after she was arrested and during a jailhouse phone call with her father? A phone call that would have either given absolute credibility to Rosetta's allegations or prove she concocted it after a tip from her father. There would have been an easy way to find out. Detective Davis could have pulled all of Rosetta's jail house calls and listened to them, but she claims didn't. We also could have judged the authenticity of Johnnie Grate's statements had Detective Davis bothered to record her interview with him. And yet, again, she didn't.
18:17
Even though Detective Davis went to that address with the specific purpose of interviewing a possible victim of Officer Holtzclaw, she didn't take or utilize an audio recorder. So, we are left with her written notes that are suspect at best. I'm putting this out there now, if they still exist, those jail house calls Rosetta Grate made back in August of 2014 need to be sought out and preserved. I'm now going to break down Rosetta Grate's story, from my perspective as an investigator. Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw did in fact come into contact with Rosetta Grate near Northeast Fourteenth and Jordan, and that stop happened on April 24, 2014 at about 7:00pm. It was a nice evening, about seventy-two degrees with scattered clouds. And, we know the date, not because there was patrol car GPS confirming the stop, but because Officer Holtzclaw did what he most often does when he goes out on a subject—he radioed in Rosetta Grate's name and identifying information. Once again, he wasn't hiding the fact that he came into contact with a female that would later accuse him of awful crimes. However, if you recall, Grate claimed Holtzclaw didn't call her in to dispatch, but here it is.
[RECORDING BEGINS]
[DING]
Computer: Thursday, April Twenty-Four, Two Thousand Fourteen, Nineteen Zero Eight and Eleven Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Charlie Forty-Five, stand by.
Dispatcher: Standby. [pause] Charlie Forty-Five, go ahead.
[DING]
Computer: Thursday, April Twenty-Four, Two Thousand Fourteen, Nineteen Eleven and Zero Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: One to run [inaudible]. Last name is Grate. George-Robert-Adams-Tom-Edward. First name is Rosetta. Robert-Ocean-Sam-Edward-Tom-Tom-Adam. Date of birth [redacted]. Black female.
[DING]
Computer: Thursday, April Twenty-Four, Two Thousand Fourteen, Nineteen Fifteen and Zero Seconds
Dispatcher: Charlie Forty-Five, Rosetta’s clear.
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Ten four.
[RECORDING ENDS]
20:24
Host: Grate comes back clear for any warrants, so when Holtzclaw finds a glass crack pipe in her purse, he cuts her a break and allows her to destroy it. I find it extremely odd that a cop with an agenda to extort sex would allow the biggest piece of evidence he has against that individual to be destroyed, but yet she says he did. Grate doesn't provide any details as to what else occurred while Officer Holtzclaw detained her at Fourteenth and Jordan, but we know from his patrol car GPS that he was there for about fifteen minutes. Regardless, what about taking her to her house? I bet that seemed pretty suspicious to you when you heard it. He didn't try to hide that either. Not only did he call Grate in when he encountered her; he also called in to let dispatch know that he was transporting her back to her residence. That's another detail Grate conveniently left out of her version of events. But, once again, here it is.
[RECORDING BEGINS]
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Forty-Five, I’m on one at Fourteenth and Jordan. [pause] Forty-Five is ten fourteen with a female at [redacted] Culbertson Drive. Starting mileage is zero nine. [pause] Forty-Five, [inaudible] ending mileage one one.
[RECORDING ENDS]
Host: Officers transporting individuals is not uncommon. Rosetta even testified it's happened to her several times, and when it happens, especially when it's the opposite sex being transported, officers are required to call it in. Now, Holtzclaw doesn't always do this, but he did in this case. Which reminds me of the first instance where Grate's story doesn't quite seem to ring that credible. And, she definitely wants us to think she's a credible person. She even makes it a point to call out that when Holtzclaw asked her what she was doing, she claims she was honest with him and told him "I'm getting high and prostituting." She says it is what it is. She says that she's been out there for a few hours and she needs to walk home, but every time she starts walking home, she gets picked up by a customer for sex and they end up dropping her off right back in that general area. In reality, while she had been out there for a few hours, she allegedly was only picked up a couple of times. A prostitution date only lasts a few minutes, and in most cases, it's the prostitute who decides where she is going to be dropped off.
22:55
But, maybe her boyfriend, Will's house was simply too far out of the way. That’s not the case. Will’s house is only one mile, a four minute drive, or a twenty-two minute walk from where she encountered Officer Holtzclaw. The reality is she could have gone home anytime she wanted to, and Holtzclaw most likely realized this. He probably even confronted her about it and offered a solution… ‘I'll drive the four minutes and take you home so that you'll stop prostituting for the day and being out here buying drugs.’ But, did she really even want to go home, and what are the odds she was even heading home on that day? If you listened closely to her interview, she clearly says she relapsed and she hadn't been back to her boyfriend, Will's house in three or four days and he was pissed. Whatever the case, Holtzclaw is on patrol in a high crime area, he comes across a street prostitute who is using crack cocaine, she doesn't have any warrants, he has her destroy her crack pipe, and he thinks the easiest and safest solution is to simply take her one mile to her residence and get her off the streets. So, he does. He also takes the opportunity to see what information she's willing to share, and she's pretty talkative. She gives up her drug dealer right off the bat, admits to being a prostitute, and shares the details with how it's all done. She also apparently lives with an older man in a nicer home, but the man has no real job. As for the purse falling off the top of the patrol car, well, that did happen. And that brings up something else that's odd, if Grate is to be believed. Not only did Officer Holtzclaw have her destroy the only actual evidence of a crime he could use against her to extort sex, but according to Grate, when they get to her house, Officer Holtzclaw offers to leave her behind so that he can go look for her purse that he inadvertently lost. Again, not exactly what you expect from a calculated cop serial rapist.
25:09
When Holtzclaw arrives at Grate's residence he does do something though that's very ill-advised, he follows her right into her house. But, I suggest it's not at all as Grate described it. She didn't just shrug off her purse and all of its contents being lost and then just go strolling up to her door and just happen to notice that Officer Holtzclaw was following her in her peripheral without either one saying so much as a word as she opens the unlocked door and steps inside. The most likely scenario is that when Officer Holtzclaw ran her (which we know he did), her father's home address popped up as her residence. Which is also the address listed on her now lost driver’s license. As we know, she gets pulled over and arrested a lot. So, the information in the system is current. But, that's not the address she gives to Holtzclaw when she says she's headed home. And, when they arrive, it's actually a pretty nice two-story house with four bedrooms, only a block from the state capitol, and surrounded sporadically by homes in the immediate area that sell for anywhere between two hundred and eight hundred thousand dollars. So, Officer Holtzclaw has his doubts it's really her home. And, if it is, he suspects that most likely the occupants are up to some sort of criminal activity. He's learned during his stint with the Oklahoma City Police Gang Unit, that you take any opportunity to investigate potential organized crime. It's one reason it's so common for police officers to ask suspects if they'll grant them permission to search their person, their car, their motel room, and even their home. And, time and time again, those individuals willingly give permission, knowing full and well that the officer is going to find drugs, guns or other evidence of serious crimes that are out in the open. I believe that's what Officer Holtzclaw was doing. I believe he told Grate that this address isn't in the system as her residence and asked her to prove it. So, she invited him inside. And, there's actually a pretty interesting story about how Grate’s boyfriend came to live in such a nice home in a nice area—all without having any reportable income of his own. But I'll save those details for when it comes out in trial.
27:36
Once inside she begins illustrating her familiarity with the layout and the personal items. I think Holtzclaw took note of the sharp contrast between how the home looked on the outside and how it appeared inside. It was obvious those living there kept up the curb appeal so as to not draw the attention of the neighbors. However, once inside, the house was dark, stained, much of the carpet was thread bare, and was overall in a state of disrepair. I've posted some photos of the outside and inside of this residence on my Instagram page @batesinvestigates or this season’s Instagram page @holtzclawtrial. Looking around for a minute and not seeing any open and obvious signs of criminal activity, he simply left the residence, got back in his patrol car, and checked a couple of things on his computer, before heading out to another location to back up an officer. Once again, patrol car GPS shows him at Grate's residence for approximately fifteen minutes, not the "at least thirty minutes" she told detectives. Also in Holtzclaw's favor, the home is unlocked when they arrive. It belongs to another man Grate describes as her boyfriend, though he will describe her at trial as more of a roommate/ housekeeper at the time. Grate herself told detectives she didn't know where Willie was and that he's "always home unless he's at the store, bank or playing pool." Holtzclaw has no idea if someone is home, in the back yard, or could be walking in at any moment with a posse of thugs. Yet, he's somehow comfortable enough to go upstairs and demand sex, even though he literally has nothing to hang over her or take her to jail on if she doesn't comply. She has no warrants and he had her destroy her drug paraphernalia. And if that's not enough to convince you, let’s look closer at this seemingly indefensible evidence she claims is literally all over this bedroom. According to her version of events, the room is basically full of Holtzclaw's DNA, pubic hairs, semen, you name it. It's allegedly on a rag, on the bed frame, on the plastic still on the box springs, and all over the back of some chair. And trust me, detectives go looking for this critical evidence.
30:06
According to court records, on September 3, 2014, just one day after Grate revealed the likelihood of DNA evidence, detectives (along with a dozen or so members of the Oklahoma City Police Gang Unit) descend, unannounced, upon Willie Carter's residence with a search warrant. According to police reports, even though Grate had previously stated the house is never locked, the front door was secured with a chain and padlock. Police claim they knocked several times, but apparently before Will could open the door they cut the locks off and forced their way inside, confronting Will at the top of the stairs. He was understandably upset and described by police as "hateful and uncooperative." They forced him to sit on the porch, guarded by gang officers, while detectives collected potential evidence and documented the scene. You can see the actual photos taken of the residence during the execution of the search warrant at this episode's homepage at holtzclawtrial.com. According to the warrant, Grate's bedroom was exactly as she described it. Officers removed the back of the chair Grate has specifically mentioned, and collected a pair of black panties and white underwear, which I find odd because neither of those items were ever mentioned by Grate at any time. For whatever reason, there is no mention of the bed railing, box springs or bedding being collected and tested, even though Grate was very insistent that those items most likely contained Holtzclaw's DNA. However, the chair and underwear were tested and while male DNA was found, none of it belonged to Officer Holtzclaw and his fingerprints were not found anywhere in the room. And what about those pubic hairs that Rosetta Grate claims she encountered while performing oral sex on Holtzclaw? She claimed that they were so plentiful and unkept that she had to wipe her mouth. In reality, Holtzclaw was pretty much clean shaven all over, if you get my drift. It was a part of his body building routine. Something Grate would have known had she actually performed oral sex upon him. Then there's the other detailed comments by Grate regarding the alleged sex act. For starters, Rosetta has no idea what all is involved and what is under Holtzclaw's uniform. I went into detail about that in episode four.
32:35
Rosetta claims that Holtzclaw simply unzipped his pants and pulled his penis out, but we know that to do that Holtzclaw has on compression underwear with no fly, a long t-shirt, a bullet proof vest with a flap that hangs below his groin, and his uniform shirt is held tightly down into his pants and below his waist by shirt stays that are attached to the tops of his socks. Yet, she just acts like he unzips and there it is. Additionally, she claimed Holtzclaw's gun was hitting her in the face while she was performing oral sex. That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Holtzclaw, along with every other police officer you've ever seen, wear their holstered service revolver on the side of their hip, not in front of their body or near their crotch. Furthermore, are we supposed to believe Holtzclaw was forcing women to perform oral sex upon him while his loaded revolver was only inches from their hands, and they could have possibly grabbed it and discharged it at any time? Then there's the vaginal rape. Once again Grate goes into details. She claims Holtzclaw had her scoot to the edge of the bed so that he could more easily have intercourse with her. That obviously means he was either standing at the edge of the bed or leaning over while in a slightly standing position, with both feet on the ground. I'm sure you can get a mental image of a standard bed frame that is high enough up that it’s not an uncommon position. However, Grate's bed appears to basically be sitting on the floor. Even with a box spring it doesn't come up to the height of the seat of the chair. It would have been impossible, or at least extremely uncomfortable, for Holtzclaw, at six foot two inches tall to have had intercourse with Grate in that position. He would have needed to have her scoot in the opposite direction (away from the edge of the bed) for him to get in the “push up” position Grate would later testify to. And what about Grate’s repeated claims that she kept going along with everything because she was on probation, wasn't supposed to be at Fourteenth and Jordan, and didn't want to get in trouble and go back to jail? This also makes no sense either when put into context.
35:01
While she was on probation, there was no legal restriction keeping her from Northeast Fourteenth and Jordan. Regardless, the first thing she does is tell Officer Holtzclaw she's violating her probation by getting high and prostituting. She even points out where she's buying her crack. And that doesn't seem like someone who is trying to avoid arrest. Yet, Holtzclaw finds no warrants, doesn't threaten to arrest her for public intoxication, and allows her to destroy the only physical evidence he has against her—the crack pipe. And, none of these red flags register with the detectives or prosecutor Gayland Gieger. Naturally, all of this begs the question: if she's lying about the sexual assault and rape, what would be her motive? Up front, I have to say it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, for me to relate to Rosetta Grate or really any of Holtzclaw's accusers. For one, I'm a white male. Two, I've never lived the lifestyle Grate has and I've never suffered from drug addiction. But that being said, I can speculate and I can base my speculation on the totality of the evidence. For one, Detective Kim Davis all but invites her to accuse Officer Holtzclaw: a police officer that by this time has already been publicly vilified by the media and his own department. They've told her up front that they think she's a victim and that they will believe literally anything she tells them. Secondly, and I don't know if you caught this during her interview, but she gives another reason as to why she may have had a very deep seated grudge against Officer Holtzclaw. Near the end of the second interview, when Grate is saying that she might know someone else that was assaulted by Holtzclaw, she claims that the other potential victim is someone Officer Holtzclaw allegedly said that Grate was a snitch. Grate goes so far as to say he was putting her name out there on the streets. In a bad way. Saying that she was working as a police snitch. She said as a result "things weren't good for me." While I may not be able to relate to Grate’s lifestyle, I do know that probably the worst thing that can happen to a street prostitute and drug addict is to be labeled a police snitch. It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that she was looking to get even with Holtzclaw and at the same time, throw a favor to the person she who allegedly told her what Officer Holtzclaw was saying about her.
37:36
And while you're trying to decide exactly how honest, forthcoming, and truthful Rosetta Grate is, you can start by asking yourself why she was in jail when Detectives Davis and Homan went to interview her in August of 2014. You might recall this quote by Detective Davis when she was commenting and audibly laughing to Grate about why she was currently incarcerated, and it wasn't just because she relapsed like she likes to keep telling everyone one.
[RECORDING BEGINS]
Det. Kim Davis: How come you’re in here now? Well, I know about you got arrested cause you made a [laughing] pretend phone call. I thought that was quite sharp.
[RECORDING ENDS]
Host: According to police records, on August 26, 2014, Grate was riding in a truck as a passenger when it was pulled over for a traffic violation. Knowing she currently had warrants for a violation of her probation she gave the officer a fake name and date of birth. While the officer was back in his patrol car trying to figure out who she actually was, Grate used the driver's cell phone to call in a fake 911 call claiming there was a shooting in progress nearby. And the address she gave? She actually had the nerve to give her boyfriend, Will Carter's address on Culbertson. That's right, to get herself out of getting arrested she was perfectly willing to send police to her boyfriend's house and risk him being arrested or even he or a responding officer being shot and killed. And Detective Davis… she tells Rosetta she thinks that's "quite sharp." I personally don't think that either one of them are particularly sharp or truthful. And I'm not the only one. KFOR News Channel 4 reported on Grate’s antics and fake 911 call. They even interviewed Rosetta's boyfriend, Willie Carter. You can watch the news report on this episode's homepage. I'll leave you with Rosetta Grate's boyfriend's own words about her truthfulness and character. These are his words, not mine, from that news story. "She's slick. She's a criminal. She's a schemer and con woman."
39:55
And trust me when I tell you, several key parts of her story up to this point change by the time we get to trial. But, that's for another episode. If you want to see all of the police reports, photos, and videos used to compile this episode, please visit this episode's homepage at holtzclawtrial.com. In the next episode, Oklahoma City Patrol Officer Daniel Holtzclaw is formerly criminally charged. And he's also released from jail on house arrest. This serialized podcast of the State of Oklahoma vs. Daniel Holtzclaw follows the timeline and perspective of the prosecution, but with the scrutiny of the defense. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe and give us a five star review. You can follow updates on this season’s Facebook page at In Defense of Daniel Holtzclaw, or on Twitter and Instagram @holtzclawtrial. Bates Investigates - Season One: In Defense of Daniel Holtzclaw is researched, produced, and edited by me, Brian Bates. This has been a bug stomper production.
[child singing] Huh? [squishing sound] [laughter] Bugs!
