Richard Allen Davis, left, sits next to his attorney Barry Collins in a San Jose, Calif., courtroom, Wednesday morning, Feb. 28, 1996. Davis is charged with the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993 in Petaluma, Calif.
His legal gambit comes more than 30 years after authorities say Davis kidnapped Polly Klaas while the girl was having a slumber party with two friends at her mother’s house in Petaluma. Davis was arrested nearly two months later and led authorities to Polly’s body, which was buried in a shallow grave near Cloverdale.
Davis’ request this year has faced stiff opposition from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office, which continued prosecuting the case after it was moved to Santa Clara County due to intense publicity. At the hearing, Sarah Brooks, a deputy district attorney, called parts of Davis’ legal reasoning “frankly absurd,” while suggesting at one point that his legal team was merely using synonyms for established legal theories as a smokescreen to help win their case.
Regardless of the judge’s ruling, it remains unlikely that Davis will face execution anytime soon. That’s because Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a reprieve for all people sentenced to death by placing a moratorium on the death penalty in 2019. Newsom has since worked to dismantle death row at San Quentin State Prison, though his moves do not provide for the release of any prisoners or alter their current conviction or sentence. Subsequent governors also could undo that moratorium.
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