A California judge on Friday rejected a request by a man convicted of killing Polly Klaas to have the death sentence handed down to him vacated.
Santa Clara County Judge Benjamin Williams declined to “set aside the jury verdict” at the sentencing of Richard Allen Davis, who was convicted in 1996 of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Klaas at knifepoint in her suburban San Francisco bedroom in 1993.
In a February court filing, his lawyers argued that the death sentence should be set aside due to recent changes to the state’s sentencing laws, and also noted that the state has a current moratorium on executions imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Polly Klaas’ father calls Governor Newsom a ‘pig’ for seeking a moratorium on executions
Richard Allen Davis (left) appears with his public defender, Bruce Kinison, in Sonoma County District Court in Santa Rosa, California, on December 7, 1993. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma/File)
In 2019, Governor Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions, calling the practice a “failure” that discriminated against defendants with mental illness, Black and Brown defendants, and those who cannot afford expensive legal fees.
A future governor could change that policy.
The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said Davis’ defense arguments were “meritless” and that the laws they cited did not apply to Davis’ death sentence for killing Klaas.
The child abduction and murder case that changed the American legal system
A California judge has rejected a request to vacate the death sentence of Richard Allen Davis, who shocked the nation in 1993 when he kidnapped 12-year-old Polly Klaas from her bedroom at knifepoint and killed her. (Polly Klaas Foundation/Klaas Kids)
In a statement, Mark Klaas thanked prosecutors and Williams for Friday’s verdict in his daughter’s death.
“Let us remember that on June 18, 1996, Richard Allen Davis literally gave the middle finger to Pollie and her loved ones, the sentencing judge and the criminal justice system when he was sentenced,” he said. “Davis’ request for resentencing nearly 28 years later is a betrayal of the criminal justice system and another finger from this psychopath.”
The night she was abducted, Klaas had been having a slumber party with two friends at her home. Her disappearance sparked a nationwide search with thousands of volunteers. Davis was arrested two months later and led police to the child’s body, which was found in a shallow grave 50 miles north of her home in Sonoma County.
Mark Klaas, father of Polly Klaas, poses for a portrait outside the Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose, California, on Friday. (AP Photo/Nick Cooley)
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This case was a major driving force behind California’s “three strikes” law, which requires prison time for repeat offenders.
The last execution in California was in 2006.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
