When Defendants Turn The Tables On Victims
A cautionary tale about how truly depraved individuals can let their victims know what they really think about them
This past week’s sentencing of Bryan Kohberger for the Idaho student slayings was memorable—perhaps infamous—for Kaylee Goncalves Family’s remarks. The entire family—grandma down to the younger sister—offered up some of the most mean-spirited, vile insults and taunts that included an indulgence tangent on prison rape fantasies. Kohberger held his mud, didn’t react, and declined the opportunity to make an allocution.
But other defendants in the same position have done things differently and have taken the opportunity to inflict more pain on the victims and the victims’ loved ones. It’s worth revisiting three California death penalty cases where this exact scenario played out. All of the defendants were convicted but none have been executed. And all three defendants had serious cases of DGAF.
Richard Allen Davis
Richard Allen Davis is likely the most hated man in California. A career criminal, Davis abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klass in Sonoma County in October 1993. The case was the biggest news story in Northern California for the 2 months between the abduction and the discovery of Klass’ remains near Cloverdale in early December 1993. The following year, California voters approved the Three Strikes ballot measure.
Marc Klass, Polly’s father, became a high-profile victims’ rights activist. He frequently excoriated Davis and supported the Three Strikes ballot measure. And Davis took note.
Davis went to trial in the Summer of 1996. He was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and special circumstances for felony murder. Following Davis’s conviction, he gave both middle fingers to the media. The photograph of the double birds was published on the front page of just about every Northern California newspaper the following day.
At sentencing in September 1996, Davis admitted to kidnapping and murdering Polly Klass; however, he denied sexually assaulting her, claiming she told him, “Just don’t do me like my dad” right before he killed her. Marc Klass attempted to lunge at Davis but was restrained by bailiffs and escorted out of the courtroom. There was never any evidence that supported Davis’s claim, but he certainly knew how to get the victim’s father’s goat.
Marc Klass went on to found the KlassKids Foundation (now known as the Polly Klass Foundation), which has assisted in numerous disappearance cases. His penchant for attention seeking rubs some the wrong way, but on net, his organization has done way better. Still, one wonders that if Marc Klass had just dialed things back a bit, Richard Allen Davis would have never felt the need to make such a vile remark at sentencing.
Richard Allen Davis (a/k/a Rick Allen Davis), 71, is incarcerated at Ironwood State Prison in Riverside County.
Corey Williams
Corey “C-Dawg” Williams is the first of two Contra Costa County death penalty cases where defendants turned the tables on victims. Williams murdered three people and wounded a fourth during an August 1995 crime spree.
The Concord resident murdered two women in Orinda during a home invasion robbery. One of his accomplices made the mistake of referring to him as “C-Dawg” in the presence of the two bound females, Maria Corrieo and Gina Roberts, and, hence, Williams decided to eliminate the witnesses. Corrieo was a septuagenarian restaurant owner, and Roberts was her developmentally disabled adult daughter. Paul Holes describes the crime scene he encountered as a criminalist in his book Unmasked in the chapter titled “Orinda.”
Days later, Williams shot a couple at Concord’s Cambridge Park. The male died, while the female survived.
Williams was charged with capital murder and went to trial in 2000. He was found guilty during the guilt phase. During the penalty phase, Williams dismissed his attorney and represented himself pro per. The surviving victim of the Cambridge Park attack testified as a prosecution witness. Williams took the opportunity to cross-examine her and asked her exactly one question:
Williams: “Do you think I feel sorry that you were shot?”
Victim: “Yes”
Williams: “I’m not.”
Williams then sat down. He did not offer any mitigating evidence or testimony during the penalty phase. The jury deliberated for six hours and returned a recommendation of death for Williams on September 15, 2000.
Prior to sentencing, Williams authored a letter to Judge Richard Arnason that included the following statements:
“I was told that I should feel remorse. But in all honesty, I don’t. Most likely never will. In all reality, I think the whole Corrieo family is a big joke and I hope they suffer for many years to come.”
After Williams was sentenced to death in November 2000, he yelled, “Fuck all you motherfuckers!” Corey Williams really wanted his ticket to be punched to Death Row.
Circa 2021, I listened to a podcast involving two guys who had done time with Williams inside the Martinez Detention Facility while he was awaiting trial. Both guys spoke very approvingly of Williams, with one describing him as “Cool AF.” This goes to show that heinous crimes are not universally despised in jail or prison.
Corey Williams, 49, is incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Solano County.
Nathan Burris
Nathan Burris murdered his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Ross, and her new boyfriend, Ersie Everette, in August 2009 at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge toll plaza. Burris blasted Everette in the parking lot with a shotgun before running up to the tollbooth where Ross was working and taking her life.
Relatives of victims had a lot to say at Burris’ sentencing on January 19, 2013. Ross’ sister, Jane Walker, called Burris a “cold, calculating coward.” Sibling Tyrice Ross told Burris was “not man enough to stand on your own feet.” Dannie Hollans, Everette’s stepbrother, called Burris a “little simple person.”
Not surprisingly, Burris had a much different take during his allocution.
“I cannot or will not express remorse or regret—it’s not gonna happen. For me, that’s three years in the past. I’m in California, and there ain’t no death penalty in California. The way I see it, I have a good 25-30 years left before anything happens.”
“I’m not concerned at all, believe me. Don’t get me wrong, if I was in Texas, I’d be sweating bullets.”
Judge John Kennedy added, “Time will tell if you are right.”
Nathan Burris, 62, is incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County.
Moral Of The Story
The nature of sentencing, including victim impact statements and allocutions, invites chickenshit behavior on both sides. It’s really easy for victims to talk scheiss at a sentencing hearing. And it’s also really easy for the defendant to clap back with some really vile scheiss. While the former happened in the Bryan Kohberger sentencing, the latter did not.
The sad thing in all of this is that the name Kaylee Goncalves will be forever associated with her relatives’ remarks at sentencing. Perhaps, as the old saying goes, discretion is the better part of valor.