Davis Acted as Usual After Klaas Killing, 2 Testify

SAN JOSE — The day after Polly Klaas was killed, Richard Allen Davis acted much as usual, getting his car fixed and hanging out at his sister’s house, two acquaintances testified Tuesday.

That showed a singular lack of feeling, a prosecutor said.

“We’re talking about a man that just strangled a little girl to death . . . and watched her die and the very next day he’s over there getting his muffler fixed and having a good old time with his buddies,” prosecutor Cliff Harris said outside the courthouse.

“Life is just the same as it always was. There was no interruption,” Harris said.

The testimony Tuesday from welder Craig Clampitt and mechanic Anthony Pearson contradicted part of the story that Davis gave police before leading them to Polly’s body on Dec. 4, 1993.

In his confession, Davis said that after he dumped the body beside U.S. 101 near Cloverdale in the early morning hours of Oct. 2, 1993, he drove about 100 miles south to the shelter south of San Francisco where he was living.

However, Clampitt and Pearson said Davis was still in the north--at his sister’s home in Redwood Valley, about 20 miles from Cloverdale--the next day.

Clampitt said he went to the house to weld the muffler to Davis’ car.

Clampitt said he left after fixing the car; Pearson said he arrived that afternoon and stayed for dinner, leaving about 11:30 p.m.

Pearson did not remember when Davis left. But he said the day was in all respects normal. When asked if anything struck him as unusual, Pearson said no.

The defense has conceded that Davis is guilty of killing Polly, although they deny that he is guilty as charged of an attempted lewd act on a minor.

In cross-examination, defense attorney Lorena Chandler questioned Clampitt on whether he could be sure when he did the welding.

“In the middle of 1993, were you using a lot of drugs?” she asked.

“No, I wasn’t using a lot of drugs,” Clampitt said.