Oklahoma executes man who killed 10-year-old girl during cannibalistic fantasy
A death row inmate in Oklahoma received a lethal injection Thursday morning in the nation's 25th and final execution this year. Kevin Ray Underwood was sentenced to die for the killing of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Rolin in 2006 as part of a cannibalistic fantasy.
Underwood, a former grocery store worker, turned 45 on the day he was executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m., state Department of Corrections spokesperson Lance West told the Associated Press. Underwood's death marked Oklahoma's fourth execution in 2024.
The state uses a lethal injection cocktail that contains three drugs. Its execution protocol begins with midazolam, a sedative, followed by a second drug, vecuronium bromide, which paralyzes the inmate. The third drug, potassium chloride, stops the heart. After the efficacy and humanity of the drugs it uses for lethal injections was called into question, Oklahoma also authorized the controversial new execution method nitrogen hypoxia to put inmates to death, although to date the state has never used it.
Underwood admitted to luring Jamie into his apartment and beating her over the head with a cutting board before suffocating and sexually assaulting her. He told investigators that he nearly beheaded the girl in his bathtub before abandoning his plans to eat her.
During a hearing last week before the state's Pardon and Parole Board, Underwood told the girl's family he was sorry.
"I would like to apologize to the victim's family, to my own family and to everyone in that room today that had to hear the horrible details of what I did," Underwood said to the board via a video feed from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
The three board members in attendance at last week's meeting all voted against recommending clemency.
Underwood's attorneys had argued that he deserved to be spared from death because of his long history of abuse and serious mental health issues that included autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar and panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizotypal personality disorder and various deviant sexual paraphilias.
His mother, Connie Underwood, tearfully asked the board to grant her son mercy.
"I can't imagine the heartache the family of that precious girl is living with every single day," Connie Underwood said. "I wish we understood his pain before it led to this tragedy."
But several members of Bolin's family asked the board to reject Underwood's clemency bid. The girl's father, Curtis Bolin, was scheduled to testify to the board but became choked up as he held his head in his hand.
"I'm sorry, I can't," he said.
Prosecutors wrote in opposing Underwood's clemency request that, "Whatever deviance of the mind led Underwood to abduct, beat, suffocate, sexually abuse and nearly decapitate Jamie cannot be laid at the feet of depression, anxiety or (autism).
"Underwood is dangerous because he is smart, organized and driven by deviant sexual desires rooted in the harm and abuse of others."
In a last-minute request seeking a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court, Underwood's attorneys argued that he deserves a hearing before the full five-member parole board and that the panel violated state law and Underwood's rights by rescheduling its hearing at the last minute after two members of the board resigned.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is considering a bid by Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip to toss out his conviction and grant him a new trial. Glossip, 61, has faced nine execution dates in all and eaten his "last meal" three times.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 11 innocent people have been freed from Oklahoma's death row and seven clemencies have been granted in the state. After Underwood's execution, there are now 33 people on Oklahoma's death row, the center says.
