PRECEDENT: Polly Klaas
Polly Klaas was taken from her own home in the middle of the night back in 1993. But had the legal system worked like it was supposed to, the man who took her never should have been walking free that night to enter her home. Her case went on to spark an outcry in the country for harsher punishment on repeat offenders. But when her case set the precedent for the three-strikes rule there was backlash no one anticipated.
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Episode Source Material
- Journey Into Darkness, by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
- Polly Klaas Foundation
- People v. Davis. 2009. Supreme Court of California
- The FBI Files: Polly Klaas: Kidnapped (Season 1, episode 1)
- Fox News: The child abduction and murder that changed American justice, by Matt London
- The New York Times: Born of Grief, ‘Three Strikes’ Laws Are Being Rethought, by Jane Gross
- Los Angeles Times: All-Out Search for Missing Girl : Kidnaping: A community is galvanized in its efforts to locate 12-year-old Polly Klaas. She was abducted from her bedroom during a slumber party, by Richard Paddock
- Los Angeles Times: Suspect’s Tip Leads to Body of Polly Klaas, by Richard Paddock and Jenifer Warren
- Los Angeles Times: Davis Convicted of Murdering Polly Klaas, by Mary Curtius
- TIME Magazine: A High-Tech Dragnet, by Jill Smolowe
- The Press Democrat: 20 years later, Petaluma remembers Polly Klaas, by Mary Callahan
- Argus Courier: Polly Klaas’ Petaluma kidnapping led to advocacy for children, by Matt Brown
- People Magazine: Odyssey of Violence, by Thomas Fields-Meyer
- Los Angeles Times: Pizza Thief Gets 25 Years to Life : Crime: Judge cites five prior felony convictions in sentencing Jerry Dewayne Williams under ‘three strikes’ law. Defense attorney says he will appeal ‘excessive punishment,’ by Eric Slater
- Centre for Juvenile and Criminal Justice: Three Strikes: The Unintended Victims (case study), by Vincent Schiraldi, Peter Y. Sussman, and Lanric Hyland
- Wallin & Klarich Law: Can I Get My Third Strike Conviction Reversed Due to Three Strikes Reform (Prop 36)? (Penal Code section 1170.126)
Suggested Episodes
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 2
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. In Part 2, we look into cases of two other female dismemberment victims in Wisconsin with striking similarities to Rhys Pocan’s.
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 1
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. But while we were in the field, we uncovered a disturbing pattern of murders with similarities to Rhys’ that were just too blatant to ignore. So, we spent the next three years working with local and federal law enforcement to try and get to the bottom of it.
WANTED: The Keddie Cabin Killer
A family’s brutal murder rocks a tiny California town and leaves behind too many unanswered questions.
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