The Legacy: Murder & Media,
Politics & Prisons

Documentary by Michael J. Moore. I'd like to take this opportunity to personally thank Mr. Moore for making "The Legacy." It's so rare that we're exposed to the complexities of human nature. I feel more tolerant of my fellow humans since I watched this film. Well, except for the politicians. My disdain for their self-serving agendas is a healthy, strapping 350 lbs. of lean, ass-kicking muscle.

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What's so amazing about "The Legacy" is how current it is; a historical account of something that just happened. The film charts the course of the "3 Strikes and You're Out" law. Written not by a lawmaker, but an enraged and devastated citizen just like you or me. That is if your daughter had been brutally murdered by a violent offender who was out on parole.

The U.S. Prison Population was about 200,000 in 1980 and is estimated to reach about 1.3 million in 2000. Over the past two decades, the U.S. prison population has increased 450%. California has led the nation in prison growth since the early 1980's, and incarcerated a higher percentage of its population than any nation on earth by 1994. That same year, California enacted a controversial sentencing law that will drive prison growth for decades to come. This is the story of that law.

Michael Moore explains why he made this film:
"There's a lot of influences that bare upon people's impressions when they go and vote, how they understand what they're voting on and obviously one of the big ones is media. In the 2 years prior to 3-Strikes being active, there was a 300% increase in the coverage of violent crime on network television news. You also had an explosion in real life crime shows, cop shows, so there was an impression that crime was exploding, that it was out of control. In fact during that 2 year period, crime dropped. But what most people carried with them to the polls was a sense that it was growing, that they had to do something, that they needed to respond. And so I think that through the entire debate on 3-Strikes the impression that people were given about what they were voting on by the media was really at odds with reality.

"I began shooting this film the day that Californians went to the polls to vote on 3-Strikes and it was already a law, in March it had become law. The Governor had signed the legislative version of it and then voters were asked to ratify that through an initiative. And the thing that, I guess I in some ways expected but still was surprised really, was how little people knew about the law. It's a very simple sounding law, 3 strikes and you're out. It couldn't be more easy on some levels to get. It's a bumper sticker. On other levels though it's an extremely complicated law. One of the things I learned when I was a victim of violent crime though is that sometimes it helps to sit back and examine the situation. Examine what is the risk, how did this happen, how is the best way to respond but with 3-Strikes in California there was this absolute tidal-wave coming both from the media and politicians to respond and there was very little time allowed for people to deliberate how best to respond to their concerns."

If you followed the news over the past few years, some of these names might ring familiar. Mike Reynolds' daughter Kimber who was shot in the head in 1992. 2 guys on motorcycles tried to jack her purse, she refused, they shot her with a .357 magnum. Mr. Reynolds went on a radio talk show pleading with listeners for any information that they might have. The identity of one of the perpetrators was called in. A swat team went to his location. He fired on the police and they filled him with 52 bullets. Mike Reynolds wonders, "Why was this man out on parole committing more crime? The State's responsibility is what we're talking about here. They're the one unindicted perpetrator of my daughter's murder."

A week after his daughter's murder he met with the Governor and told him that he was going after these kinds of people in a big way. About 2 weeks later, he sat down in his back yard with 3 judges, 2 attorneys, a defense and prosecution attorney, representatives of local law enforcement, juvenile crime division representatives and a business leader or 2. They discussed how they could put one law on the books to solve the problem of the re-release of the same criminals over and over again and what would be the best way to go about it and the 3 Strikes & You're Out initiative was born.

The first time they went to the capital he brought a contingency of 450 people. His first biggest obstacle was trying to create a news event on the worst day possible, April 20th, 1993, The day that the Feds decided to torch Waco. Mike Reynolds was pat on the head and sent home after he spoke to the Senate.

To qualify the initiative for the ballot he had 150 days to collect 5% of California voters which was over 400,000 signatures. They had no financial backing and a handful of supporters. He drafted an initiative, promoted it and got 15,000 signatures after 2 and half weeks. They needed help.

Meanwhile, Marc Klaas' daughter Polly was kidnapped. It all started with a print shop owner who heard about the kidnapping over the radio. He printed up flyers and he asked people to come and help do a physical search for Polly. 3,000 people showed up searching and handing out flyers and that's what hit the media. Over 40 billion images of Polly and the composite of the kidnapper were distributed all over the world. The President and a lot of top political Californians and even Winona Ryder offered their support.

Mr. Klaas says, "It starts with a phone call letting us know that Polly had been kidnapped and that's when everything changed. Everything changed then and then things changed again when we found out that she was dead. Then somehow or another we were absolutely, totally thrust into a political arena that we did not necessarily want any part of."

Polly's Grandfather, Joe Klaas had an old friend over at KGO Radio in San Francisco who called and wanted to help. He basically gave them the radio station and one of the largest media hunts for a missing person ensued. The case even aired on America's Most Wanted.

The Klaas' spent the next 2 months searching for Polly. On November 30th, 1993, 39 year old Richard Allen Davis was charged with the kidnapping of Polly Klaas. On December 4th, 1993, Marc Klaas was called into the precinct. Davis had not only confessed to the kidnapping but led the cops to Polly's remains.

Even if you've never heard of any of these people, if you happened to flip past your local news, you might remember Davis. Clad in a bright orange prison jump suit with flowing salt & pepper hair wearing black rimmed glasses. He had prior convictions for rape, kidnapping and assault. He was in and out of prison a dozen times with a voracity for violence. Mike Reynolds saw him as the absolute posterboy for his 3-Strikes initiative.

What had happened is that in the midst of finding Polly's body, KGO Radio had remember Mike Reynolds and who certainly better fit the profile that 3-Strikes was aimed toward than Davis. Ron Owens of KGO Radio says, "People were really into this Polly Klaas case. They really understand how this affected their own lives and I felt we had to move really quickly to make sure we didn't lose that momentum if we were gonna do something about 3 Strikes and You're Out. So as a result of that we put together the show real fast. We didn't quite know what to expect."