a man of Oklahoma who killed a 10-year-old girl as part of a cannibalistic fantasy died by lethal injection Thursday, in what was the twenty-fifth and last execution of the year in the country.
Kevin Ray Underwood was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. It was the fourth execution of the year in Oklahoma, and it occurred on the day the convicted man turned 45 years old.
Oklahoma uses one a three-drug lethal injection process that begins with the sedative midazolam, followed by a second drug that paralyzes the inmate and a third that stops his heart.
Strapped to a gurney inside the execution chamber, Underwood apologized to Jamie’s family and his own family “for all the terrible things I did.”
“The decision to execute me on my birthday and six days before Christmas was an unnecessarily cruel thing to do to my family,” he said. Underwood“but I am very sorry for what I did and I wish I could take it back.”
Underwood looked at members of her legal team and her family, including her mother, as the execution began at 10:04 a.m. His breathing hitched slightly and his eyes closed a few minutes later. A doctor entered the execution chamber at 10:09 a.m., shook him a few times, and pronounced him unconscious. He was pronounced dead five minutes later.
Underwood, a former supermarket worker, was sentenced to death for killing Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006. Underwood admitted to having attracted Jamie to her apartment and hitting her on the head with a cutting board before suffocating and sexually assaulting her. He told investigators that he almost decapitated Jamie in her bathtub before abandoning his plans to eat her.
Jamie’s sister, Lori Pate, who was among several family members who witnessed the execution, thanked prosecutors for helping guide her family through the nearly 18-year process from Jamie’s death to Underwood’s execution.
“This doesn’t give us our Jamie back, but it does allow the space in our hearts to focus on her and allow the healing process to begin,” Pate said.
During a hearing last week, three members of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously against recommending clemency.
Underwood’s Lawyers They argued that he did not deserve death due to his long history of abuse and serious mental health problems that included autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar and panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and various sexual paraphilias.
Prosecutors argued that many people suffer from mental illness, but that does not justify harming children.
In a last-minute request to obtain a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court, Underwood’s attorneys argued that he deserved a hearing before the five-member board and that the panel violated state law and Underwood’s rights. by rescheduling the hearing at the last minute after two board members resigned. The court rejected that request Thursday morning.