Confessed murderer Kevin Ray Underwood does not have a clemency hearing on the calendar before his execution on Dec. 19.
He’s the next Oklahoman slotted to be killed by lethal injection, nearly two decades after he murdered his 10-year-old neighbor in Purcell.
Underwood’s case was originally scheduled to appear in front of the Pardon and Parole Board on Dec. 4, when members would determine whether to recommend him for clemency to Gov. Kevin Stitt.
But at the end of November, the board lost two of its five voting members. As a result, the clemency hearing was called off and then rescheduled for the start of this week.
A stay issued by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now canceled the rescheduled meeting too.
The temporary stay order blocks the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board from going forward with its meeting to review Underwood’s case for clemency. The new delay could postpone his execution. An execution cannot go forward unless there is a clemency hearing.
Underwood’s attorneys argue he is entitled to a fair and impartial hearing before a full board of five members.
The board currently only has four. Stitt appointed Tulsa lawyer Susan H. Stava to the board on Thursday. She was going to participate in the hearing.
Underwood was sentenced to death in 2008 for murdering Jamie Bolin in Purcell two years earlier. According to Underwood’s confession, he lured Bolin into his house, beat her over the head, attempted to decapitate her and stashed her body in a plastic tub with hopes of later eating it.
Underwood is currently set to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 19 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
