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Thread: Kevin Ray Underwood - Oklahoma Death Row

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    Kevin Ray Underwood - Oklahoma Death Row


    Jamie Rose Bolin



    Kevin Ray Underwood


    Summary of Offense:

    Convicted and sentenced to death in the murder of ten-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin. The girl's body was found in a plastic tub in Underwood's apartment in April 2006.

    Underwood was sentenced to death on April 3, 2008.

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    April 3, 2008

    Kevin Underwood Sentenced to Death

    PURCELL (AP) — A judge today formally sentenced Kevin Ray Underwood to die by lethal injection for the 2006 murder of Jamie Rose Bolin, his 10-year-old neighbor at a Purcell apartment complex.

    McClain County District Judge Candace Blalock's pronouncement was largely a formality, since a jury imposed the death penalty last month after convicting Underwood, 28, of the girl's death.

    Underwood declined the judge's offer to speak before she issued the sentence.

    Blalock set June 13 as the execution date, but an appeal is automatic.

    During his 10-minute court appearance, Underwood asked to waive the 10-day waiting period to be transferred from jail to prison. He likely will be housed on the death row unit at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

    Jamie's body was found hidden in a plastic tub in Underwood's closet on April 14, 2006, two days after she disappeared from the apartment she shared with her father upstairs from Underwood's.

    The victim was killed as part of a cannibalistic plot that Underwood revealed during a grisly, videotaped interview after his arrest.

    The killer said he lured Jamie into his apartment by asking if she wanted to see his pet rat. Once inside, she was hit over the head with a wooden cutting board.

    Underwood said he then smothered her with her hands, placed duct tape over her nose and mouth and sliced her neck with a knife in a failed attempt to cut off her head.

    Underwood consented to a search two days later during an interview with the FBI. His taped confessed, made hours later, was played for jurors during Underwood's trial.

    In the video, Underwood admitted fantasizing of kidnapping a young boy or girl, forcing them to watch pornography, then engaging in torture, decapitation and molestation of the body.

    Jurors deliberated just 25 minutes to convict Underwood of murder on Feb. 28. It took them eight hours to choose his fate a week later.

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    October 12, 2010

    Okla. man appeals death penalty in child killing

    NORMAN, Okla. – An Oklahoma man sentenced to die for killing a 10-year-old girl whose body was found in his bedroom closet should be granted a new trial in part because his confessions were inadmissible, the man's lawyer argued Tuesday.

    Attorney William Luker also told the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that a roadblock where authorities first stopped 31-year-old Kevin Ray Underwood was improper and that a juror on the case was dishonest. He said one of Underwood's two confessions should be discarded because Underwood had asked for a lawyer.

    "Officers are not supposed to be around somebody who has already invoked their rights," Luker said. "You're supposed to be leaving them alone and getting them a lawyer."

    Underwood, a grocery store stocker from Purcell, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2006 killing of Jamie Rose Bolin, whose nude body was found stuffed in a plastic tub inside the closet.

    During his trial, prosecutors said Underwood lured the girl into his apartment, beat her over the head with a cutting board and suffocated her before sexually assaulting her corpse. Evidence showed he also tried to decapitate her with a decorative dagger and told authorities the killing was part of a cannibalistic fantasy — although there was no evidence the girl's body was cannibalized.

    Underwood first encountered authorities two days after Jamie disappeared after leaving her elementary school in Purcell, about 40 miles south of Oklahoma City. The roadblock was set up near the apartment the girl shared with her father, upstairs from Underwood.

    After an initial interview with FBI investigators, Underwood let the two agents search his apartment, where they discovered the large plastic tub. When an agent lifted the lid and spotted some of the girl's clothing, he immediately asked what happened to her. Underwood responded: "She's in there. I hit her and chopped her up."

    Luker argued that confession was inadmissible because Underwood had become a suspect by that point and had not been told of his right to legal counsel. A lengthy videotaped confession conducted later at police headquarters after Underwood had been informed of his rights also should be suppressed, Luker said, because Underwood had indicated he wanted an attorney.

    Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Dickson, who argued the state's case, maintained that Underwood offered to talk to investigators after he had twice been informed of his rights.

    Luker, Underwood's public defender, also argued that a juror wanted so badly to serve in the case that he intentionally failed to disclose as many as eight contacts with law enforcement and the judicial system during juror questioning.

    "We're entitled to 12 impartial jurors who uphold their oath, not 11," Luker argued. "And we contend we didn't get that here."

    Dickson maintained the juror didn't intentionally withhold information and that it wouldn't have affected the outcome of the case.

    Justice Gary Lumpkin, the court's presiding judge, seemed to agree. "What does that have to do with him being a fair and impartial juror in this case?" Lumpkin asked.

    The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case within a few months. This is the first stage of state appeals for Underwood, who is housed on death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

    Jamie's mother and grandmother both attended Tuesday's hearing and said they were prepared for a lengthy appeals process.

    "We just don't want Jamie to be forgotten in all the nitpicking legalities," said Rose Fox, the girl's grandmother. "Somebody needs to stand here and stand for her."

    http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/12...child-killing/

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    Death sentence upheld in Purcell child murder case

    The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Friday upheld the conviction and death sentence of Kevin Ray Underwood, who was found guilty of the gruesome April 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Bolin, of Purcell.

    The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the conviction and death sentence of Kevin Ray Underwood, who was found guilty of the gruesome April 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Bolin, of Purcell.

    FBI agents found Bolin's body in a plastic tub in Underwood's bedroom closet 2 days after the murder. Underwood, 31, confessed to the slaying.

    “The evidence of appellant's guilt was overwhelming and essentially uncontested,” the Court of Criminal Appeals said in its 72-page opinion.

    Underwood's attorneys challenged his conviction and death sentence on 13 grounds, including the lawfulness of the law enforcement roadblock where Underwood was first questioned and the admissibility of his confession. The court rejected all the arguments.

    Underwood's attorneys also had sought a new trial, contending newly discovered evidence showed 1 of the jurors had not been totally forthright in answering questions about prior contacts with the legal system during the jury selection process. That request also was rejected.

    No execution date has been set, said Diane Clay, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office. There are several more steps in the appeals process.

    (Source: The Oklahoman)

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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Underwood's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.

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    Okla. court denies death row inmate's appeal

    The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected the appeal of a death row inmate convicted of first-degree murder for the death of a 10-year-old Purcell girl.

    The five-member court handed down the unanimous decision Tuesday in the case of 32-year-old Kevin Ray Underwood.

    The court last year upheld Underwood's conviction and death sentence. Its latest opinion rejects Underwood's request for post-conviction relief and an evidentiary hearing.

    Underwood, a grocery store stocker from Purcell, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2006 killing of Jamie Rose Bolin. The victim's nude body was found stuffed in a plastic tub inside a closet.

    Prosecutors say he lured the victim to his apartment, beat her with a cutting board and suffocated her.

    His attorney, Laura Arledge, was not immediately available for comment.

    http://www.newson6.com/story/1653978...inmates-appeal

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On January 31, 2012, Underwood filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/okl...cv00111/82913/

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    Oklahoma City federal judge rules against murderer who killed 10-year-old Purcell girl in 2006

    By Nolan Clay
    The Oklahoman

    An Oklahoma City federal judge has rejected a notorious murderer's legal argument that he is ineligible for the death penalty because he is severely mentally ill.

    Kevin Ray Underwood, 36, argued that a death sentence in his case would be an unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

    "This claim has no basis in precedent," U.S. District Judge Timothy DeGiusti wrote in a 75-page opinion.

    Underwood is on death row for killing a 10-year-old Purcell girl in 2006 because of his cannibalistic fantasies.

    The grocery store employee admitted that he killed a neighbor, Jamie Rose Bolin, tried to have sex with her body and used a dagger to try to remove her head. He said he became disgusted with himself and did not eat any of the body.

    He told an FBI agent, “I'm going to burn in hell.”

    The girl's body was found in a large, blue taped-shut plastic tub in the bottom of the bedroom closet of Underwood's apartment.

    The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 barred executing mentally retarded criminals. In 2005, it barred executing those who committed their crimes as juveniles.

    Underwood's attorneys argue it is now time to extend the ban to the severely mentally ill. They point to a 1958 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that what is considered cruel and unusual punishment can change based on "the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society."

    The judge disagreed, pointing out "there are no relevant state trends" toward such a ban.

    "This Court has only located one state that bars the execution of the mentally ill, and that state has ended the death penalty for all future offenses," the judge wrote.

    Diagnosed disorder

    At his 2008 trial, jurors were told Underwood had been diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder.

    His latest attorneys told the federal judge he has been rediagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. The attorneys described the mental illness as an organic brain condition and developmental disorder characterized by obsessive preoccupations, emotional immaturity, lack of empathy, poor social judgment and poor impulse control.

    The judge also rejected other legal arguments made by Underwood, mostly about his 2008 trial. Underwood complained about his own trial attorneys, the prosecutors, a "biased" juror, "improper" victim-impact testimony, "irrelevant" testimony and other issues.

    The judge did agree the victim's father and mother should not have been allowed to tell jurors they wanted the death penalty. However, the judge found that error harmless, given the overwhelming evidence of Underwood's guilt and the overwhelming evidence the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel."

    The opinion was issued Thursday.

    http://newsok.com/article/5511912

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    On August 30, 2016, Underwood filed an appeal before the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca10/16-6262
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  10. #10
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    On March 22, 2018, oral argument will be heard in Underwood's appeal before the Tenth Circuit.

    https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/...h_2018_Cal.pdf

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