The man convicted of the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, a horrific case that sparked headlines around the world and led to a crackdown on serial offenders in California, is making a bid to overturn his death sentence, according to reports.
Richard Allen Davis, 69, argued that a criminal justice reform law that invalidates sentencing enhancements for prior convictions that took effect in 2022 should be applied to his death sentence, The Press Democrat reported.
Prosecutors called his attempt to use the law in his case "nonsensical."
Marc Klass, Polly's father, who created a foundation that advocates for protecting child crime victims, said Davis should remain behind bars.
"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," Klaas said in a statement. "We could not have been more wrong!"
Davis, on death row at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, is expected to be in Santa Clara County Court in San Jose on Friday.
The hearing was moved from Sonoma County because of publicity surrounding the case.
Polly was taken from her Petaluma home on Oct. 1, 1993, where she was having a slumber party with two friends.
Davis, armed with a knife, entered the bedroom, bound and blindfolded the friends and kidnapped Polly.
Following an extensive search for Polly, Davis, who had a history of violent crimes against women, was arrested on a parole violation that November and confessed to killing Polly in December, telling police he buried her body in a shallow grave.
He was charged with murder, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted lewd acts on a child.
