Oklahoma City (AP) An Oklahoma death row convict is supposed to make a final plea for mercy prior to his scheduled execution, but a hearing has been postponed by a federal appeals court.
The Pardon and Parole Board’s scheduled hearing was postponed Monday by the three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. To discuss Kevin Underwood’s request for clemency, the panel was scheduled to convene.
In recent weeks, two members of the board have resigned, and Underwood’s lawyers assert that he is entitled to a hearing in front of the entire five-member board. After being under criminal investigation for allegedly sending improper communications to a woman he was treating as part of a court-mandated divorce program in Pontotoc County, Calvin Prince, one of Governor Kevin Stitt’s appointees to the board, resigned. Last month, Edward Konieczny, another of Stitt’s appointees, also resigned from the board.
In a statement, Leslie Berger, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma attorney general’s office, said, “The stay is frustrating, but we are proceeding with all legal avenues to allow the hearing to take place this week and to keep the execution on schedule.”
For the 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin, who resided in Underwood’s Purcell, Oklahoma, apartment complex, the 44-year-old Underwood is set to be executed by lethal injection on December 19.
Despite the fact that there was no proof of cannibalism, Underwood told investigators that he killed the girl as part of a cannibalistic dream. The girl’s head was almost severed when her body was discovered in a plastic tub at Underwood’s apartment.
Although Underwood’s lawyers acknowledge that he killed the girl, they contend that he had a mental disorder that included a very disturbed fantasy life, which he ultimately carried out.
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