Richard Allen Davis, the killer of Polly Klaas in California in 1993, wants to overturn his death sentence. Davis was sentenced to death for abducting and then murdering 12-year-old Polly, snatching her from a sleepover at knifepoint and strangling her to death. Her body was found two months later. The case caused a media sensation at a time when the Internet was in its infancy. Davis asked the California Superior Court to recall his 1996 death sentence under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2019 decision to halt the death penalty in the Golden State, reports the New York Post.
The Sonoma County District Attorney opposes Davis' request. Klaas' father, Marc, said, “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!” He added, "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."