Defense Team Says Poll Shows Kevin Underwood Trial Should Be Moved

Friday, January 19th 2007, 10:21 pm

By: News On 6

PURCELL, Okla. (AP) A poll commissioned by defense attorneys for a man charged with killing a 10-year-old Purcell girl is being used to support his request that his trial be moved.

The poll, conducted by OU POLL, indicates that more than three in four McClain County residents think Kevin Underwood killed Jamie Rose Bolin last April, said OU POLL director Mary Outwater.

The poll was paid for by taxpayers and cost $5,235. It had 406 respondents, but Outwater said others declined to participate in the survey. She said 78.5 percent of McClain County residents think Underwood is guilty, based on their knowledge of the case.

Attorney Silas Lyman argued in court briefs earlier this month that the trial should be moved because of extensive pretrial publicity surrounding the case. Lyman said that intensive media coverage of the case has spoiled the jury pool in McClain County. He did not comment on the poll Thursday, citing a gag order.

No hearing has been set by McClain County District Judge Candace Blalock to rule on Underwood's request.

Underwood, 27, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Jamie, who lived with her father in the same apartment complex as Underwood. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The brutal case shocked the residents of this small community, about 40 miles south of Oklahoma City.

Investigators found the girl's nude body in a plastic tub inside Underwood's bedroom closet after he raised the suspicions of officers at a police checkpoint and let them search his apartment.

After Underwood's arrest, police and prosecutors held a press conference in which they revealed grisly details of the crime, saying Underwood raped the girl's corpse and planned to eat her flesh.

"It's probably good for him to have a change of venue," Outwater said. "They wouldn't know all the details that came out of the news, so at least he'd have a better chance of getting a fair trial."

She said it likely would be difficult to find an impartial jury to hear the case anywhere in Oklahoma.