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OKLAHOMA CITY – A federal appellate court has put on hold Monday’s clemency hearing for child killer Kevin Ray Underwood.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board was set to meet Monday to consider Underwood’s bid for clemency.
A federal district judge on Sunday declined to put the hearing on hold or stay his Dec. 19 execution.
Underwood’s attorneys appealed that to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
“The stay is frustrating but we are proceeding with all legal avenues to allow the hearing to take place this week and to keep the execution on schedule,” said Leslie Berger, a spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond.
Underwood’s clemency hearing was originally set for Dec. 4, but cancelled after two of the five board members resigned.
After Drummond protested, it was reset for Monday.
But his attorneys sought to put the hearing on hold until five board members could be present.
Gov. Kevin Stitt on Friday announced he had appointed Tulsa attorney Susan H. Stava to the board, bringing its membership to four.
Underwood said he had a better probability of obtaining the three votes needed for clemency to proceed to Stitt with five members hearing his request.
The state argued that state law did not require all five to be present, adding that some clemency hearings in the past have proceeded with fewer.
Underwood was convicted 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 and cannibalize her body, according to public documents.
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