ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN JOSE, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Above
The killer of Polly Klaas enraged her family even as he was being condemned to death Thursday with a wild claim that the 12-year-old girl told him before he killed her that she had been molested by her father.
Marc Klaas shouted obscenities, lunged at his daughter's killer and was hustled out of the courtroom. Polly's grandmother wailed aloud and wept, leaning against her husband in shock.
Richard Allen Davis was sent to California's death row at San Quentin Prison for killing Polly after kidnapping her from a slumber party in the bedroom of her Petaluma home Oct. 1, 1993. A nationwide search for Polly ended when Davis led police to her body in December.
Moments before his formal sentencing, the 42-year-old career criminal criticized his investigators and lawyers in a rambling speech. The Klaas family listened with rapt attention from the front row, smiling incredulously at some of his complaints.
Then, Davis started talking about the one charge he had always steadfastly denied - that he had tried to sexually molest Polly.
``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.'''
Spectators gasped and a long-drawn out moan of ``Ohhhh!'' echoed in the courtroom. A close friend of Marc Klaas, San Jose City Attorney Mike Groves, shouted ``Burn in hell, Davis!'' and then Klaas jumped toward the killer.
Prosecutor Greg Jacobs, who said he was ``nauseated'' by Davis' allegation, said no such claim had ever been leveled during the case, nor was there any evidence to support it.
Davis' defense attorney, Lorena Chandler, slumped down in her chair, obviously distraught, her faced buried in one hand.
The accusation was reminiscent of Davis' contemptuous action in court the day he was found guilty, when he thrust both middle fingers at a courtroom camera.
Outside the courtroom, Klaas called Davis' statement a ``vile and sinister and evil act,'' and that he had expected trouble from the ``gutless coward.''
``I brought him down,'' said Klaas, who wants to be present when Davis is executed. ``He knows that as well as everybody else. We have been pursuing the death of Richard Allen Davis for three years. I am his worst nightmare.''
After the outburst, Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings confirmed the sentence of death the trial jury recommended Aug. 5. He could have reduced it to life in prison without parole, but said Davis' conduct Thursday made sentencing him to death ``easy.''
Hastings also dismissed a request for a new trial based on alleged juror misconduct. An appeal of the sentence is automatic.
Davis served eight years for kidnapping and assaulting a woman before he was paroled. He kidnapped Polly three months later. At his sentencing hearing, four women who were attacked by Davis said they feared to be alone.
``He victimizes little girls and little women,'' Klaas said. ``He does it under the veil of darkness, at night, when there's nobody else present.''
Before the ruling, Klaas spoke, at times movingly, at times angrily, remembering his daughter as a loving child who ``deserves peace.''
As he ended his comments, he snapped, ``Mr. Davis, when you get to where you're going, say hello to Hitler, say hello to [Jeffrey] Dahmer and say hello to [Ted] Bundy.''
After the sentencing, Polly's grandfather also lashed out at Davis.
``My wife became hysterical because this man succeeded in what he was trying to do, which was pierce my son through the heart and pierce the rest of the family,'' Joseph Klaas said.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP. Joe and B.J. Klaas, grandparents of Polly Klaas,by CNBembrace as Richard Allen Davis testifies Thursday. 2. CNN. Marc
Klaas (left) is helped from the courtroom Thursday in this
television image after Davis said Polly Klaas told him she had been
molested by her father. 3. (headshot) Davis. color. 4. Polly Klaas
Abducted from slumber party.