Oklahoma panel rejects man’s plea for mercy, paves the way for final US execution of 2024
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma panel has rejected a plea for clemency for a man convicted of torturing and killing a 10-year-old girl as part of a cannibalistic fantasy. Friday’s unanimous vote by the state’s Pardon and Parole Board paves the way for Kevin Ray Underwood to become the last person executed in the U.S. this year. Underwood is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday, his 45th birthday. Speaking via video from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Underwood apologized for killing 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006. Underwood admitted to detectives that he lured the girl into his apartment before beating her and suffocating her to death.
