Wrangling Over Venue Opens Hearing in Klaas Murder Case

The legal tug of war over where to try the man accused of killing Polly Klaas opened Thursday with neither side appearing willing to budge.

Defense attorneys for Richard Allen Davis want to head south; prosecutors want to keep it up north.

“We’ll batten down the hatches and settle in,” Superior Court Judge Lawrence Antolini remarked as the hearing began.

Antolini decided in September that Davis, 41, could not be tried in Sonoma County because feelings run too high over the death of 12-year-old Polly.

Davis, 41, is accused of kidnaping her at knifepoint from a slumber party at her Petaluma home, strangling her and dumping her body by the side of a highway.

The Oct. 1, 1993, kidnaping spurred an intense search that focused national attention on child abductions. Publicity was pushed to a higher pitch with the arrest of Davis, a parolee with a violent record.

Now, the question is where can Davis get a fair trial.

Four counties are under consideration: Fresno, Santa Clara, San Diego and Los Angeles.

Prosecutors want the case to go to Santa Clara, arguing in documents filed with the court that the move would be less costly and burdensome for witnesses than a court in Los Angeles or San Diego.

But defense attorneys say Santa Clara, about 100 miles south of Santa Rosa, would not be much better than Sonoma County.

Much of the testimony Thursday focused on highly technical statistical information.

The first witness was Stephen Schoenthaler, a sociology professor who volunteered to assist in scoping out potential jury pools in the four counties.

Out of about 300 people sampled in each county, he said only three people in Sonoma County had not heard of the case, 13 in Santa Clara, 21 in Fresno, 64 in Los Angeles and 65 in San Diego.