Oklahoma Executes Kevin Underwood, Closing Year of Controversial Death Penalty Cases

Underwood, convicted of the 2006 murder of a 10-year-old girl, was executed on his 45th birthday as debates over the death penalty's future intensify.

Kevin Underwood, convicted of murdering 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin in 2006, was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma, marking the nation's 25th and final execution of 2024.
Underwood's clemency request was unanimously denied, with his attorneys citing severe mental health struggles, including depression and schizotypal personality disorder, as grounds for mercy.
The execution comes as national support for the death penalty has reached historic lows, while a small number of states, including Oklahoma, continue to carry out executions regularly.
President Biden, who imposed a federal moratorium on the death penalty, faces increasing pressure from advocates to commute the sentences of 40 federal death row inmates before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The year saw significant developments in capital punishment, including the first executions in over a decade in states like Indiana and South Carolina, and the use of nitrogen gas in Alabama.