Oklahoma carries out 25th execution of 2024, last of the year
The Sooner State is the latest state to apply capital punishment to an inmate this year, after enforcing the sentence on a man who sexually assaulted and murdered a 10-year-old girl.
Mugshot of Kevin Ray Underwood
A man was executed in Oklahoma on Thursday for the sexual assault and murder of a 10-year-old girl. This marks the 25th execution in the United States in 2024 and the last scheduled for the year. Kevin Ray Underwood, 45, was put to death by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
As reported by authorities, the execution process began at 10H04 and Underwood was pronounced dead ten minutes later. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 2024 was the tenth consecutive year with fewer than 30 executions in the country.
The inmate admitted to the crime and apologized to the victim's family
Underwood, who worked at a grocery store, was convicted in 2006 of the sexual assault and murder of Jamie Rose Bolin, the daughter of his neighbors in Purcell, in southern Oklahoma City. Bolin was beaten with a kitchen cutting board and then suffocated.
On Friday during a clemency hearing, Underwood confessed to the killing and expressed regret: "I recognize that even though I don't want to die, I recognize that I deserve it for what I did." "I would like to apologize to the victim's family and to my family," he added.
2024, the year nitrogen gas executions made their debut
This 2024, 25 executions were carried out in the United States, in three of them, the controversial method of employing nitrogen gas was used. The rest were with lethal injection. This year's death penalty applications were carried out in nine states: six in Alabama, five in Texas, four in Missouri, four in Oklahoma, two in South Carolina and one each in Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Utah.
On Wednesday, the state of Indiana conducted its first execution in 15 years. Joseph Corcoran, 49, was sentenced to death for murdering his brother and three other men. This state had suspended executions in 2009 because it was unable to obtain the necessary drugs in the face of pharmaceutical companies' refusal to be associated with capital punishment.
According to a Gallup poll, 53% of Americans favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, while 43% oppose it and 4% have no opinion. The death penalty was abolished in 23 of the 50 U.S. states and six others have moratoriums in place.
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