Judge plans to recall death sentence for man who killed 12-year-old Polly Klaas

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A California judge will consider Friday whether to recall the death sentence against Richard Allen Davis, who in 1993 killed 12-year-old Polly Klaas after kidnapping her from her bedroom under threat of 'a knife in a crime that shocked the nation.

In 1996, jurors found Davis guilty of first-degree murder and the “special circumstances” of kidnapping, burglary, theft and attempted lewd act on a child. Davis, who had an extensive history of kidnappings and assaults dating back to the 1970s, was sentenced to death.

Davis' lawyers argued in a court filing filed in February that his death sentence should be overturned because of recent changes to California's sentencing laws. They also noted the current moratorium on the death penalty in California. In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions, calling the death penalty a “failure” that has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or who cannot afford expensive legal representation. A future governor could change this policy.

The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said the arguments of Davis' attorneys are “absurd” and that the laws they cite do not apply to Davis' death sentence for Klaas's murder.

Davis kidnapped Klaas from her bedroom in Petaluma, 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of San Francisco, in October 1993 and strangled her to death. That night, she and two friends had a sleepover and her mother slept in a neighboring room. Klaas' disappearance sparked a nationwide search by 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.

The case was a key driver behind California's adoption of a so-called “three strikes” law in 1994, which sets longer sentences for repeat offenders. Lawmakers and voters approved the proposal.

California has not executed anyone since 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor. And although voters in 2016 narrowly approved a measure to speed up sentencing, no convicts were sentenced to imminent execution.

Since the last execution in California, the death row population has grown to house one in four inmates in the United States.