JAMIE ROSE BOLIN - 10 yo (2006) - Purcell (S of Norman) OK

A lawyer for a man sentenced to die for the grisly killing of a 10-year-old girl says his client deserves a new trial.Attorney William Luker presented oral arguments Tuesday in the case of Kevin Ray Underwood before the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. The grocery store stocker was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2006 killing of Jamie Rose Bolin.Luker argued that Underwood's confessions to police were inadmissible and that a roadblock where investigators first encountered him was improper. He also argued that a juror on the case was dishonest when questioned during jury selection. The court affidavit stated that Underwood confessed to the killing.Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Dickson said all of Underwood's constitutional rights were protected and that police did "everything by the book.""The statement that the defendant gave in this case was voluntary, and the search of his property was done with his consent," Dickson explained.Jamie Rose Bolin went missing from her Purcell apartment in April 2006. After a 48 hour search, authorities learned that Underwood strangled and beat her to death. She was later found in a box in Underwood's closet. The defendant lived in the apartment underneath the victim and her father. Underwood told investigators he was the last person to see Bolin.The hearing was held at the University of Oklahoma College of Law in Norman. Bolin's family attended today's hearing.Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said, "They were here today to make sure that Jamie's not forgotten. When people are picking apart the legal technicalities, at the end of the day their Jamie was killed."Underwood planned the murder for about a month, which was part of a cannibalistic plot. A meat tenderizer, and barbecue skewers were found in his apartment, apparently intended to be used on Bolin. Authorities believed that a 5-year-old boy, and an adult female were other victims that Underwood considered."I got chills when they were reciting the evidence in the case and going back over the facts," Mashburn described. "The death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst, and obviously Kevin Ray Underwood is the worst of the worst. Given what was going through his mind, and then what he carried out, not just kept in his mind, but actually took another human and did with them. The worst of the worst."
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals will now review the case, and issue a written opinion. The ruling could be overturned and go to trial again, or if the conviction is upheld, it could go to a federal court.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday upheld the conviction and death sentence of Kevin Ray Underwood, who was found guilty of the gruesome April 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Bolin, of Purcell.



FBI agents
found Bolin’s body in a plastic tub in Underwood’s bedroom closet two
days after the murder. Underwood, 31, confessed to the slaying.“The evidence of appellant’s guilt was overwhelming and essentially
uncontested,” the Court of Criminal Appeals said in its 72-page opinion.Underwood’s attorneys challenged his conviction and death sentence on 13
grounds, including the lawfulness of the law enforcement roadblock
where Underwood was first questioned and the admissibility of his
confession. The court rejected all the arguments.Underwood’s attorneys also had sought a new trial, contending newly
discovered evidence showed one of the jurors had not been totally
forthright in answering questions about prior contacts with the legal
system during the jury selection process. That request also was
rejected.No execution date has been set, said Diane Clay, spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office. There are several more steps in the appeals process.
Read more: http://newsok.com/death-sentence-upheld-in-purcell-child-murder-case/article/3552053#ixzz1HjOB3P9A