Almost 30 years after being sentenced to death for kidnapping and killing Polly Klaas, child murderer Richard Allen Davis is trying to get the sentence overturned, following a recent criminal justice reform law in California.
Prosecutors say Davis is appealing based on Senate Bill 483, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 and effective from 2022. The law cancels sentencing enhancements for prior convictions related to certain nonviolent felonies and drug offenses.
Davis wants to use this law for his entire sentence, but prosecutors say it's beyond the scope of relief under SB483, as reported by The Press Democrat.nonsensical,” The Press Democrat reports.
Deputy District Attorney Sarah Brooks stated, “He is asking for a completely new penalty phase jury trial, which is clearly not allowed under SB483.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Davis took Polly from a sleepover at her family home in Petaluma, California, in 1993. He broke into the home, kidnapped her at knifepoint, then strangled and dumped her body around 50 miles away.
Davis had been released from prison for kidnapping a woman just months before the murder. Public outrage over his long criminal record led California to enact stricter sentencing laws for repeat offenders.
In response to a growing prison population, the state has stopped sentencing enhancements for prior convictions. Davis argues that the changes should allow resentencing in his case, which could potentially remove him from death row.
Marc Klaas, Polly’s father, asked Mercury News, “It takes decades-old cases of extreme pain and throws it back into everybody’s faces so we can give the criminal yet another chance. Where’s my consideration?” Polly’s father, Marc Klaas, asked Mercury News.
In a court filing submitted in February, Davis's lawyers argued that the 2022 law nullifies the sentencing enhancements associated with his four previous felony convictions and three previous prison sentences.
Prosecutors argued that the law does not apply to his death sentence for Polly’s murder, but should only impact about two years of his prison term related to his other charges.
“If my family can be subjected to the possible recall of the 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,” Mark Klaas said in a statement.
Davis is currently on death row at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin.
Keep looking for new information.
[Featured Image: Polly Klaas via Mark Klaas]