Stop the Execution of Kevin Underwood in Oklahoma

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt & the Pardon and Parole Board

Oklahoma plans to execute Kevin Underwood on December 19, 2024, for the 2006 murder of ten-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin.

Please CALL GOVERNOR STITT during business hours today and Thursday at 405-521-2342 to urge that he do everything in his power to halt the unnecessary execution of Kevin Underwood. (PRESS ZERO to speak with a live staff member.)

BACKGROUND
During questioning, Kevin confessed to developing a desire to abduct someone, molest them, eat their flesh, and dispose of their remains. Although he tragically succeeded in killing Jamie, he was unable to carry out his cannibalistic and sexually deviant fantasies. Kevin was sentenced to death after the jury found the murder to be especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel, although they rejected the claim that Kevin would pose a continuous threat to society.

Since Kevin’s confession and sentencing, numerous concerns have been raised about his mental health. He has a documented history of severe mental illness, including depression. Initially diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder, Kevin was recently rediagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, which is a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Kevin's mental health struggles led him to live a reclusive lifestyle and develop increasingly disturbing fantasies. Before the murder, Kevin maintained an online blog where he wrote about his struggles with loneliness, depression, and lack of motivation. In one post, he expressed a longing to "live like a normal person."

In 2002, the Supreme Court found that sentencing a mentally ill person to death would violate the Eighth Amendment. This is because mentally ill people have lessened culpability in a crime and giving them a death sentence would constitute cruel or unusual punishment. Despite this, Kevin’s 2016 appeal to mitigate his death sentence was unsuccessful due to ‘lack of precedent’

In recent years, courts and governors have begun to fight back, rejecting exculpatory evidence, clemency recommendations by parole boards, and objections from the victims’ families. Executions are final and there is no room for rehabilitation or redemption.

A state-sanctioned murder of someone like Kevin, a mentally ill individual on the autism spectrum, is irreversible and takes us further away from what we want most: a fair, effective, and rehabilitative justice system.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has postponed a clemency hearing that had been set for December 4, 2024. Even if clemency is recommended, it is Governor Kevin Stitt who will make the final decision.
Oklahoma's aggressive execution schedule marks it as an outlier in its use of the death penalty while the majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions. In the last few years, Oklahoma has been one of only a handful of states that have carried out death sentences - and it continues to do so targeting the poor, the mentally ill and people of color.


This particular execution is just one in a series of 25 executions scheduled by Oklahoma in the coming months, despite serious concerns around the state's lethal injection protocols and drugs.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Stitt and the Pardon and Parole Board to do everything within their power to ensure this execution does not go forward, and to seek a path to clemency in the case.

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Death Penalty Action

To: Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt & the Pardon and Parole Board
From: [Your Name]

We are writing to request clemency for Kevin Ray Underwood, who is scheduled for execution on December 19, 2024. While we acknowledge the severity of his crime, we believe that the death penalty is not an appropriate punishment in this case.

Kevin has recently been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how individuals perceive and interact with the world around them. He has also suffered from depression and severe low-self esteem in the past, leading him to lead an unusually reclusive lifestyle. Developmental conditions, intellectual disabilities, and mental disorders can deeply influence an individual’s behavior and are entirely beyond their control.

Executing someone who suffers from such conditions raises significant ethical concerns. Kevin’s mental state before, during, and after the murder, must be fully considered before carrying out such an irreversible punishment.

We strongly urge you to spare his life and commute his sentence to life without parole.

Thank you for your time and consideration