Jury seated in Purcell girl's killing

By Johnny Johnson

Published: February 25, 2008

NORMAN — Michelle Davis was warned that if she served on the jury of the capital murder trial of 28-year-old Kevin Ray Underwood, she would most likely hear some of the most disturbing testimony and see some of the most horrific photos she could imagine. But she said she thought she could handle it.

But after some serious soul searching over the weekend, she knew she couldn't be objective.

Underwood is accused of killing his 10-year-old upstairs neighbor as part of a cannibalistic plot.

Davis had been part of the 150 or so potential jurors who responded to a court summons and was one of 50 potential unbiased members who made it through individual interviews, when she told court officials she could be objective.

But shortly before noon Monday, she stood up and told District Judge Candace Blalock that she no longer felt the same way.

"I have a 7-year-old daughter," she said outside the courtroom. "And I have nieces and nephews. It wasn't my daughter. But it was somebody's daughter."

Davis said she wanted to do her civic duty. But she said the longer she sat there Monday morning and looked at the defendant, she wasn't entirely sure she could handle seeing the graphic photos of the 10-year-old victim.

"He deserves a fair trial, and I hope he gets it," she said of the defendant, who sat emotionless in a wrinkled, oversized white Oxford shirt with a red tie with gray patterns.

But she said she couldn't be fair.

"There's been a lot of sensationalism around it," she said of the case.

Another potential juror recused himself later Monday afternoon, telling Blalock he had also done some soul-searching and decided that his Christian beliefs would not allow him to be a party to another person's death.

The man told Blalock that he believed the state had a right to seek the death penalty, but he said he personally believed there was a higher court that people had to answer to. He said it was not his place to decide whether someone lives or dies, and that it would not matter if he had to vote on the matter 100 times in the deliberation room, because he couldn't do it.

"I expect you are going to hear some graphic and difficult testimony," Susan Caswell, assistant district attorney, told potential jury members. "Also fairly graphic pornography, which may be difficult to take. Graphic. High-level. I don't know how to describe it ... difficult pornography."

With no other potential jurors excusing themselves after the warning, court officials continued asking other questions of the remaining jurors. Both prosecution and defense were told to make nine removals each from a pool of 30 jurors they had been questioning.

The removals were made, and the seven men and five women who remained included a registered nurse, a General Motors retiree, a surgical technician, an X-ray technician and a former law firm investigator, among others. Some of the jurors said they had family members who were victims of crimes. Those potential jurors included a woman who said her uncle was murdered, and one man who said he had once shot a man who broke into his home, and had been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon many years ago when he said someone pulled a knife on him.

The jury and three alternates were chosen by 4 p.m., and prosecutors and defense went straight into opening arguments.

Testimony will begin Tuesday morning.

If convicted of the April 2006 murder of Jamie Rose Bolin, Underwood will face the death penalty.

The case made national headlines. The judge in the case, Blalock, has been critical of media coverage, at times closing the courtroom to the public. Motions have been filed under seal, and a gag order has been put in place, barring defense attorneys and prosecutors from speaking with the media.

Defense attorneys argued successfully that media coverage in Purcell warranted a change of venue, and the trial was moved to Norman in Cleveland County.