(by Brian Bates) I’ve decided to create a blog to coincide with the season one podcast of the Daniel Holtzclaw case.
This will be an area where I can post articles, information, updates, answer questions and otherwise interact with the audience in a more timely format while keeping the podcast itself more streamlined.
In my career as a private investigator, working on many criminal defense cases, the Daniel Holtzclaw case is the one case my mind continually wanders back to and it’s one of the only cases I’ve personally worked on that I feel justice was truly not served.
During the preparation, and up through the trial itself, I kept my opinions of this case pretty much to myself.
Following Holtzclaw’s conviction, I published an article entitled “A Closer Look”.
That article caught the attention of many within the public.
That’s when I realized Holtzclaw’s story not only needed to be told, but that there was an audience that was receptive and open minded enough to actually be willing to listen to what I had to say about this case, even though my opinion was very unpopular at the time.
I have had many biases while being a member of Daniel Holtzclaw’s original criminal defense team. Initially I was bias against Holtzclaw. I assumed he must be guilty of at least some of the allegations against him. In fact, that is why I was originally asked to take a look at this case for Holtzclaw’s original criminal defense attorney, Scott Adams.
Mr. Adams had asked me to look over the little bit of discovery that had come in and to see if I could figure out if Holtzclaw was lying and, if so, exactly what her was lying about.
Holtzclaw was adamant he hadn’t committed a single crime and I concurred with Mr. Adams that, at least at this point in the case, there was not a single piece of physical evidence that any crime had actually been committed by Holtzclaw.
I was eventually retained as a member of Holtzclaw’s defense and continued to work in that capacity up until his conviction and sentencing.
That said, for much of the time leading up to his jury trial I often told Holtzclaw that I did believed he was guilty of something, but that I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
To Holtzclaw’s credit, he would simply shake his head, look at me with a slight grin and tell me, “keep looking, you’ll eventually see I didn’t do anything.”
He was right. Once all of the discovery materials had been made available, and we had discussed the case in detail with DNA experts, I was convinced that Holtzclaw was not only “legally not guilty” (as in no evidence of guilt), but that I also believed he was “factually not guilty.”
On the 5th anniversary of the Jannie Ligons traffic stop I launched my podcast, Bates Investigates, season one, The State of Oklahoma vs. Daniel Holtzclaw.
Below is a news story by KWTV Ch9 regarding the launch of my podcast.
I truly hope you enjoy this podcast. A lot of effort, time and expense has gone into ensuring it is as factual and detailed as possible.
Please feel free to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, give it a five-star rating and write a review!