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Klaas' killer: an emotional lightning rod
September 27, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Richard Allen Davis, the convicted killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, smiled for the cameras before he was bundled off to death row.
From the start, everything about Davis struck a raw emotional chord.
"Richard Allen Davis appeared to be exactly Hollywood's perception of the bogeyman," said Terry Diggs of Hastings Law School.
First there was his tearful videotaped confession. Then came open defiance in June in the face of the jury's guilty verdict, when he extended both middle fingers toward courtroom cameras.
Finally, Thursday, there were his outrageous last words in court. In his statement before being sentenced, Davis brought up the one charge he has always denied -- that he considered molesting Polly before killing her.
"The main reason I know I did not attempt any lewd act that night," Davis said, "was because of a statement the young girl made to me while walking up the embankment: 'Just don't do me like my dad.'"
Gasps filled the courtroom, and San Jose City Attorney Mike Groves, a close friend of Polly's father, Marc Klaas, yelled, "Burn in hell, Davis!" Klaas shouted obscenities and leaped from his seat toward the defense table before deputies hustled him out of the courtroom.
Klaas said he hopes Davis' words bring a backlash of legal changes, including the rules governing when and even if a judge allows a convicted person to speak.
"These should be scripted statements, and as soon as they veer off of that script or off of that text, then the microphone should be turned off," Klaas said.
Davis killed Polly after kidnapping her from a slumber party in the bedroom of her Petaluma home October 1, 1993. Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings announced the death sentence, deciding against life in prison without parole.
Even before Hastings pronounced the sentence, Davis was already preparing for his automatic death row appeal. Despite federal rules to speed up the process, it takes three years in California just for a death row inmate to get an appeals attorney.
"There ought not be any delay," said California Attorney General Dan Lungren. "This case puts in vivid outline the problem that many of us have been working on for a decade."
The delay also angers Marc Klaas.
"It represents the continued victimization of victims and families of victims," Klaas said. "At best case, we're looking at eight years before Richard Allen Davis is going to be executed."
Even Davis' arrival at San Quentin Prison sparked emotion: He was jeered by other inmates.
Correspondent Rusty Dornin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Davis to die for Polly Klaas' murder
- Killer of Polly Klaas sentenced to death - September 26, 1996
- Jury recommends death penalty in Klaas murder - August 8, 1996
- Anguished dad says life "in ruins" since Klaas' death - July 3, 1996
- Guilty verdict in Klaas murder - June 18, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window- The Polly Klaas Foundation
- Klaas Foundation for Children
- Marc Klaas' Journal
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
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