Tulsa World: Defense attorneys for child-killer argue against death penalty

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Defense attorneys for child-killer argue against death penalty

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 3/4/2008 11:45 PM
Last Modified: 3/4/2008 11:47 PM

NORMAN -- The father of convicted killer Kevin Underwood asked a jury to spare his son's life during tearful testimony Tuesday as jurors considered whether the former grocery store stocker should die for killing a 10-year-old girl.

Larry Underwood told jurors he was hard on his son and said he loved him "more than anything."

"I didn't tell him enough," Larry Underwood said, choking back tears.

Kevin Underwood, 28, was convicted Friday of first-degree murder for the April 12, 2006, killing of Jamie Rose Bolin in a plot prosecutors said was fueled by cannibalistic fantasies.

Larry Underwood testified that his son was shy and didn't do well in sports, recalling a time Kevin Underwood played T-ball in grade school and spent part of a game rolling around in the outfield.

"I said, 'Kevin, if you didn't want to play ball, why'd you do it?"' Larry Underwood said he asked his son after the game. "He said, 'I done it for you, Dad.'"

Kevin Underwood, who has shown no emotion throughout the trial, wiped away tears as his father testified.

Other relatives described him during testimony Tuesday as a shy, socially awkward child.

Gayle Coburn, Underwood's aunt from Emporia, Kan., testified that his social awkwardness began at an early age. She described a picture of Underwood as a toddler reaching his arms out toward the camera.

"Probably by the time Kevin became about 2 years old he did not respond to hugs like other children," Coburn said. "It was like that picture. He was always reaching out wanting to play but not able to take the next step."

Coburn also described unusual behavior Underwood exhibited as a child, including making odd noises and exaggerated blinking. As Underwood grew older, Coburn said he once confided in her that he was depressed, isolated and feeling very alone. She said she encouraged him to seek medical help.

A Purcell doctor also testified that he treated Underwood for depression and prescribed him the antidepressants Zoloft and Lexapro. Previous testimony indicated that Underwood began taking Lexapro for a second time just months before the girl's killing.

Coburn also testified that she warned Underwood to stay away from macabre, dark jokes.

"I remember telling him at one point, 'Kevin, you need to quit looking at that stuff, because it's just gross.'"

A forensic psychologist who conducted two jailhouse interviews with Underwood after his arrest testified Tuesday that he suffers from severe depression, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Robert Premtky, a professor of psychiatry at Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey, added that Underwood has several deviant sexual interests but is not insane and showed no signs of psychosis.

"Clearly he has spent the better part of his life overwhelmed with deviant sexual fantasies," Premtky said.

Premtky said one test conducted on Underwood indicated that he was most sexually attracted to children but that several tests showed that he was intentionally evasive or exaggerating his symptoms.

Under cross examination, Assistant District Attorney Susan Caswell hinted that Underwood would be a continuing threat to society, one of the aggravating circumstances prosecutors must prove for a jury to return a death sentence.

"I assume that having been convicted of first-degree murder, this man would never see the light of day," Premtky said, but he declined to speculate about whether Underwood is a continuing threat.

Premtky, who said he has worked with inmates in more than 30 prisons across the country, said Underwood would clearly be a target of other inmates.

"Rarely do you see anyone as vulnerable as that man right there," Premtky said, gesturing toward Underwood. "He is very vulnerable to getting murdered in prison."

The penalty phase of Underwood's trial began Monday.

Prosecutors have said his fantasies involving killing and torturing and eating a victim were fueled by disturbing Internet images of pornography, autopsy photos and cannibalism.

Jurors could sentence Underwood to death by injection or give him a life sentence with or without the possibility of parole.

Underwood said he lured Jamie into his Purcell apartment with his pet rat and then hit her with a cutting board and smothered her. Her body, with her head nearly cut off, was later found in a plastic tub in his apartment.

Although Underwood said a cannibalism fantasy fueled his actions, no evidence has been presented that any actual cannibalism took place.

His trial was moved from Purcell to neighboring Cleveland County because of the intense publicity surrounding the case.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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	Report Comment jb, tulsa (3/5/2008 10:15:00 AM) Poor baby,his daddy did'nt love him enough!Give me a break!Please don't execute my child killing,perverted cannibal off-spring he did'nt mean to bash in that little girls head then rape her lifeless body then almost sever her head!This low-life piece of idiot trash should be so lucky to be removed from society,the quicker the better,but you know this cretin will have 10 years of appeals,meals,benefits of prison life.
	Report Comment gb, sapulpa (3/5/2008 11:12:30 AM) Cost effectiveness: 1 lethal injection = $$$, eliminates a pervert killer and possibilty of parole to become a repeat offender. OR: umpteen years in a jail cell, hundreds of thousands of $$$ wasted on his upkeep, and may get paroled or released again to repeat his crimes on future children. To me, a no-brainer. I 'll pay for the lethal injection myself so that other parents and kids can sleep better at night.
	Report Comment Lisa, Tulsa (3/5/2008 11:52:32 AM) Fry him!
	Report Comment David, (3/5/2008 11:58:49 AM) Men like his are a reason that the death penalty hasn't gone away.
	Report Comment E T, tulsa (3/5/2008 12:12:55 PM) Lawyers like this are a reason this guy doesn't get the death penalty. how can a lawyer with a conscience even want to keep this guy from the death penalty?
	Report Comment Steve Scott, tulsa (3/5/2008 3:00:17 PM) If we all feel this way why the hell does our judiciary system work the way it does? Why no justice for the victim amid great concern for the criminal? An eye for an eye is not only biblical, it is common sense. The system exists to protect the innocent; this lump of fecal residue is by his own admission not innocent. The Chinese handle such things with great sense and dispatch: a pistol shot behind the ear. Doesn't deter their criminals but it makes everyone feel great.--
	Report Comment gb, sapulpa (3/5/2008 3:27:17 PM) #6 is correct. much less expense than a lethal injection, and no complaining by the bleeding hearts and moaning marys about the poor poor criminal might have suffered. Our judicial system doesn't work because it's full of loop-holes. Keeps the attorney's partially employed, until they can get into politics.

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