Jurors Continue Deliberations on Sentence for Killer of Polly Klaas

SAN JOSE — Jurors ended a second full day of deliberations Wednesday with no decision on whether Richard Allen Davis should die or spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Polly Klaas.

“All we can do now is to have faith they’re doing what we expect them to do, which is to follow their responsibilities, to look at all of this conscientiously,” defense attorney Lorena Chandler said.

The jury will resume deliberations today.

Prosecutor Greg Jacobs said he was not concerned that jurors may be having trouble agreeing.

“I would be concerned about it if I thought we were getting close to [a hung jury] but I don’t feel that way right now,” he said.

Davis, 42, has already been found guilty of killing 12-year-old Polly after kidnapping her from a slumber party in her Petaluma bedroom on Oct. 1, 1993.

Jurors, who also decided that the special circumstances of kidnapping, robbery, burglary and attempting a lewd act on a child apply to the case, now must decide whether Davis should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The jury got the case Monday afternoon.

Although the lawyers were relaxed about the jury’s pace, the Klaas family clearly was ready for a decision to be reached.

Outside the courthouse, Polly’s father, Marc Klaas, said that if Davis is executed, he would like to be a witness.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I want the last thing that this guy sees to be my eyes just like the last thing my daughter saw in her life were his eyes,” Klaas said.