Dec. 18 – An Oklahoma death row inmate will become the 25th and final person executed in the United States this year on Thursday.
Kevin Underwood, 44, will be executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on December 19, his birthday. A Cleveland County jury sentenced Underwood to death for acting on his admitted fantasies about cannibalism and the 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin in his Purcell apartment.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously on December 13 to deny a pardon for Underwood after a weeklong legal battle and two canceled hearings.
“I want to apologize to the victim’s family, to my own family and to everyone in that room today who had to hear the horrible details of what I did,” said Underwood, who appeared on OSP video. “I can’t believe I did those things. The person I was in the weeks leading up to that event is not who I am today.”
Underwood’s attorneys argued that their client deserved mercy because of his long history of abuse and serious mental health issues.
Connie Underwood, his mother, asked the Council for mercy for her son.
“I can’t imagine the grief that precious girl’s family must live with every day,” Connie Underwood said. “I wish we understood his pain before it led to this tragedy.”
Lawyers for the Oklahoma attorney general urged the board to reject clemency, describing the crime as “one of the most infamous and depraved murders in Oklahoma history.”
“Kevin Underwood is a deeply evil monster who committed an unthinkable murder that took a 10-year-old child from her parents and loved ones,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in previous statements. “The death penalty is the only appropriate punishment in this case, and I urge the Pardon and Parole Board to reject clemency and ensure justice for Jamie.”
Attorneys for Underwood filed a lawsuit earlier this year challenging the constitutionality of the state’s execution protocol, arguing that the Oklahoma Department of Corrections policy could be changed at any time without legislative oversight, making it unconstitutional.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied the challenge in October.
Underwood was originally scheduled to be executed on December 7, 2023, before the AG’s office requested more time between executions to reduce the workload for Oklahoma Department of Corrections employees.
