June 2, 1954 - Richard Allen Davis
His criminal history stretched back years before the 1993 abduction and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas — a case that drew national attention partly because of how preventable it seemed given his prior record. The outcry following his 1996 conviction directly shaped California law, accelerating both the "three-strikes" sentencing statute and civil commitment provisions for sex offenders.
From Wikipedia
Richard Allen Davis (born June 2, 1954) is an American convicted murderer whose criminal record fueled support for the passage of California's "three-strikes law" for repeat offenders and the involuntary civil commitment act for sex offenders and predators. He was convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder with special circumstances (burglary, robbery, kidnapping, and an attempted lewd act upon a child under the age of 14) of 12-year-old Polly Klaas.
As of 2024, Davis remains imprisoned in California, following the moratorium on the death penalty in California issued by California governor Gavin Newsom in March 2019, and Davis' transfer to a state prison facility in Stockton.
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