An inmate facing execution later this month has asked a federal judge to force the state to have a full contingent of the five-member Pardon and Parole Board hear his clemency request or issue a stay.
Kevin Ray Underwood is set to die Dec. 19 for the 2006 suffocation of Jamie Rose Bolin, 10.
Her partially decapitated body was found in a plastic tub in his Purcell apartment.
He had planned to rape her and cannibalize her body, according to public documents.
A Wednesday clemency was initially postponed indefinitely after two members appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt to the Pardon and Parole Board resigned.
It was then reset for 9 a.m. Monday after Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond objected and demanded that the three remaining board members hold the hearing.
Underwood’s attorneys filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District. A hearing is set for Friday.
H. Calvin Prince III recently resigned from the Pardon and Parole Board after an investigation began into allegations of bribery, The Oklahoman reported.
Prince’s attorney, Mark Myles, said Thursday that bribery was not involved, but the incident was a “lapse in judgement” involving a woman going through a divorce. Prince later apologized to the woman, Myles said.
Prince on Thursday resigned as administrator of the Pontotoc Specialty Courts.
“He recognizes that his continued employment would only serve as an unnecessary distraction to the detriment of the program,” Myles said.
The second board member, Edward Konieczny, stepped down because he’s moving out of state, The Oklahoman reported.
In a brief, Underwood’s attorneys said his expert psychologist and one of his experienced attorneys could not attend the clemency hearing in person due to the scheduling change.
They argue that state law requires two members on the panel must have mental health training and experience. One of those members was Prince, the brief said.
“The Board’s lack of two members trained in mental health is especially damaging to Underwood because his clemency case is fundamentally about his serious mental health problems,” the brief said.
Underwood must obtain three of the five member’s vote for a clemency recommendation to proceed to Stitt’s desk.
With five members, he needs 60%, but with three members, he needs 66% of the vote, the brief said.
“Rescheduling Underwood’s clemency hearing is a minimal inconvenience to the Board, but it is life or death for Underwood,” the brief said.
Drummond’s office had no comment.
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