Richard Davis: Man convicted of 1993 abduction and murder of Polly Klaas, 12, seeks overturn of death sentence

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SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Attorneys for Richard Allen Davis, one of the most infamous convicted murderers in California's history, have requested the Santa Clara County Superior Court judge on Friday, April 5, to reverse his death sentence for the 1993 murder and kidnapping of 12-year-old Polly Klaas.

In 1996, a jury found that Davis, 69, had abducted Klaas from her mother's Petaluma home while she was having a sleepover with two friends. Davis was found guilty despite not being present in court. 

Richard Allen Davis then received the death penalty for kidnapping, robbing Klaas at knifepoint, and then strangling her to death. Her body was discovered 2 months later. The murderer is currently locked up at San Quentin State Prison.

Richard Allen Davis was sentenced to death for kidnap and murder

In March, Davis requested that the California Superior Court overturn his 1996 death sentence in light of Governor Gavin Newsom's 2019 decision to outlaw the death penalty in the Golden State, Fox News reported.

No one in California can be executed while Newsom is in the office, as per the moratorium.

“On August 5, 1996, Richard Allen Davis was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering my 12-year-old daughter Polly Klaas, with the intent to commit lewd acts upon her,” Polly’s father Marc Klaas said in a statement this week.

The bereaved father continued, "At 10:30 pm on October 1, 1993, Davis invaded a slumber party at the home Polly shared with her mother in Petaluma, California, where he bound, tied, and blindfolded Polly’s two friends before kidnapping her at knifepoint.”

Marc Klaas wrote that Davis "murdered Polly and discarded her body on top of a trash pile within hours of abducting her."

“We had every expectation that the sentence of death recommended by the jury and imposed by Judge Thomas Hastings would keep him segregated from society for the rest of his life. We could not have been more wrong!” Marc added.

He wrote, “The Sonoma County District Attorney’s opposition to recall of Davis’s capital sentence… is correct that a recall of a capital sentence is not authorized under the section, and the court should deny his motion."

California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed for outlawing death penalty system

In May 2024, a judge will decide on Davis' sentence, according to the New York Post.

“If my family can be subjected to the possible recall of capital sentence of a condemned murderer who, prior to murdering Polly, had multiple convictions for violence towards women and was diagnosed as a sexually sadistic psychopath, then any victim’s family who thought that justice was served in the courtroom is in for a shocking new reality,” Marc, who lost his daughter to the crime, said.

He continued, “If Polly’s killer is somehow able to prevail, this is the tip of the iceberg.”

He informed that “[t]housands of violent offenders will follow suit, so lock your doors, protect your children, and pray that your family does not fall prey to the violence and destruction that is sure to follow.”

When asked for his statements about the death penalty, Newsom's office referred to statements the Governor made in March 2019, when 737 people in California were on death row at the time of the moratorium.

“The intentional killing of another person is wrong and, as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual. Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure," Newsom had said in a statement at the time.

“It has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation. It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. Most of all, the death penalty is absolute. It’s irreversible and irreparable in the event of human error,” he added.

The disappearance of Polly had created a sensation in the media during the early days of the internet.