Murder trial moved

The Norman Transcript

March 09, 2007 12:15 am

— Fate of Kevin Ray Underwood to be decided in Cleveland County court
By Julianna Parker
Transcript Staff Writer
PURCELL -- A Purcell man accused of killing a 10-year-old girl will be put on trial in Norman instead of Purcell, the judge ruled Thursday.
Kevin Ray Underwood, 28, will be tried in Cleveland County instead of McClain County, Judge Candace Blalock decided.
Underwood is accused of first-degree murder in the slaying of Jamie Rose Bolin, a girl who lived in his apartment complex.
Her body was found in a box in Underwood's closet.
The judge filed a gag order after gruesome details of the case were leaked to the press.
Defense lawyer Silas R. Lyman II filed a motion for a change of venue Jan. 12, arguing that an impartial jury could not be obtained in McClain County.
Moving the trial -- even if only to the next county -- would provide a new jury pool.
"A different county of that size, you just have more people to pick from," District Attorney Greg Mashburn said after the hearing.
To support his motion for change of venue, Lyman submitted a survey of McClain County residents that showed most already assumed Underwood's guilt.
In response, the district attorney's office filed the affidavits of 12 of the people surveyed.
"We have provided the court with counter-affidavits, basically," Mashburn said at Thursday's hearing.
The DA's office asked the respondents if they could set aside what they had heard about the case and make a fair judgment based on what they learned in court.
Eight said they could, while four said they could not. Three of those four knew Underwood personally, which would make them unavailable for the jury anyway, Mashburn said. The fourth worked for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.
Mashburn said this showed there could be an impartial jury in McClain County.
Lyman responded by saying the issue was the overall picture.
"The weight of the evidence shows that this community, this good community, is predisposed," he said.
The judge agreed.
"The court has to assure that in this important case the defendant's due process rights are protected," Blalock said.
She said she was persuaded the venue should be changed because a reasonable amount of prejudice was shown to exist.
"This community has been particularly hard hit and intensely invested in the circumstances surrounding this case," she said. "Empaneling a truly impartial jury in this county would be highly unlikely."
Blalock said Cleveland County will be the location of the trial.
Mashburn, who operates in McClain, Cleveland and Garvin counties, said the change of venue will not affect his case greatly.
"It's not going to create a hardship," he said.
By his own request, Underwood will remain in the McClain County jail.
The trial was pushed back from June to August.
The preliminary juror report date will be Aug. 2, the final pretrial conference will be Aug. 9, and the trial will commence Aug. 14.
Julianna Parker 366-3550 jparker@normantranscript.com