The moment finally came for Marc Klaas when the rage he felt at his daughter's murderer swept instantly from his mouth down to his hands, feet and gut.
Klaas shouted obscenities and lunged for Richard Allen Davis, who had just taunted him with a wild claim that the 12-year-old girl's last words were that she had been molested by her father."I knew that he would try to get at me in some way," Klaas said after deputies hustled him out of the courtroom, where Davis was sentenced to death Thursday.
Klaas called Davis a "gutless coward" and said his statement was a "vile and sinister and evil act."
Davis killed Polly after kidnapping her from a slumber party in the bedroom of her Petaluma home Oct. 1, 1993.
Before he was sentenced at the televised hearing, Davis told Superior Court Judge Thomas Hastings about a number of complaints he had about investigators and his lawyers. The Klaas family listened with rapt attention from the front row, smiling incredulously at some of his complaints.
Davis then suddenly switched to the one charge he has always denied - that he tried to molest Polly before killing her.
"The main reason I know I did not attempt any lewd act that night," Davis said, "was because of a statement the young girl made to me while walking up the embankment: `Just don't do me like my dad."'
Gasps filled the courtroom in a moment reminiscent of the day in June when Davis greeted the guilty verdicts against him by extending both middle fingers to a courtroom camera.
"Burn in h---, Davis!" yelled San Jose City Attorney Mike Groves, Klaas' close friend. Klaas then shouted obscenities and leapt from his seat toward the defense table, about 15 feet away. Deputies quickly grabbed him and hustled him outside.
The silence in the courtroom was broken only by the sobs of Klaas' mother.
Davis' defense lawyer, Lorena Chandler, slumped in her chair, obviously distraught, her faced buried in one hand.
This morning, Klaas said he might have been able to endure the hurtful words, but "when I heard the reaction of my mother, that's what sparked me to get up from my seat as I did."
Klaas said he thinks he understands Davis' motivation. "He doesn't like me very much. I think he feels I'm partially responsible for putting him in the place he's at right now. I think he would do absolutely anything to reach out and get me," Klaas said on the "Today" show.
After the outburst, Hastings confirmed the death sentence the trial jury recommended Aug. 5. He could have reduced it to life in prison without parole, but said Davis' conduct Thursday made sentencing him to death "easy."
Hastings also dismissed a request for a new trial based on claims of juror misconduct. An appeal of the sentence is automatic.
After the sentencing, Polly's grandfather lashed out at Davis as a "sadist," and returned the murderer's gesture of extending both middle fingers.
"As far as this man is concerned, I wouldn't wipe him off my shoes! I'd burn the shoes and flush the ashes down the sewer, and I still wouldn't get down to where he is," Joe Klaas told reporters. "My wife became hysterical because this man succeeded in what he was trying to do, which was pierce my son through the heart."