Washington County News
Klaas' father speaks on victims' rights
04/25/03
HOLLY DANKS
HILLSBORO -- Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered, tries to put his anger behind him.
But 10 years later, the case of Laci Peterson, another high-profile missing person, brings it back.
"As this goes on, Scott Peterson, it's all going to be about him," Klaas said during a town hall meeting this week at Century High School. "It sure gets me angry."
Klaas, 54, founded KlaasKids and travels around the country telling parents how to protect children, advocating for victims' rights and tougher sentencing, and urging residents, businesses, law enforcement and legislators to work together to create safe communities and help youth.
Because the Peterson case has been in the news, Klaas used it as an example to say that the U.S. Constitution needs a victims' rights amendment.
"If you are a victim of a violent crime, it is a world for which you cannot prepare," Klaas said. "We are nothing, we don't even count."
Richard Allen Davis, a known sex offender and career criminal with a 15-page rap sheet, went to California's Death Row for killing Polly Klaas in 1993. He tied up two of her friends at knifepoint and grabbed Polly from her bedroom during a slumber party at her house in Petaluma, Calif.
Polly's body was found 65 days later, about 30 miles away in a roadside thicket, after a massive search galvanized the northern California community and captured the attention of the nation.
"He got to go into court every day and act out," Klaas said, seething at the memories. "I had to go into the courtroom every day and act stoic."
Klaas warned Laci Peterson's family to prepare for the same.
Scott Peterson is charged with killing his 27-year-old wife and their unborn son. Laci Peterson, who was 7 months pregnant, disappeared Christmas Eve from their Modesto, Calif., home. Her decomposed body and that of her full-term fetus washed up separately last week in San Francisco Bay.
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