Richard Allen Davis thrust both middle fingers at courtroom cameras moments after being convicted of murdering 12-year-old Polly Klaas in a verdict that makes him eligible for a death sentence.
Outside the courthouse, Polly's grandfather Joe Klaas gave his own gesture: a thumbs-up for victory.Davis' show of defiance may play a role in the next stage of the trial - the penalty phase to determine whether Davis should be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
"If the jurors saw that it's going to be awfully hard for them to not have that in their mind," prosecutor Greg Jacobs said.
If defense lawyers try to portray Davis as remorseful when the penalty phase begins July 1, that would open the door for prosecutors to introduce video or witness accounts of Davis turning, winking, puckering his lips in a kiss and gesturing obscenely, Jacobs said.
"He was showing us what he is, just a contemptible little punk who's been flipping off society from day one," said Marc Klaas, Polly's father.
Defense lawyer Barry Collins declined comment on the gesture.
After five days of deliberations, the jury on Tuesday convicted Davis on all counts, including all four of the special circumstances that make him eligible for capital punishment. Any one of the special circumstances - robbery, kidnap-ping, burglary and an attempted lewd act - would have been enough for a possible death sentence.
After the verdict, President Clinton called Polly's father.
"This doesn't make up for the past but our thoughts are with you," Clinton told him.