The clemency hearing for an Oklahoma death row inmate scheduled for a lethal injection next week can happen on Friday.
A three judge panel of the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a stay on that meeting last night. Lawyers for Kevin Underwood had argued that this hearing, required before any execution in Oklahoma, needed to be in front of a full, five member board. But on a 2 to 1 vote, the panel disagreed, clearing the way for the clemency meeting now scheduled for tomorrow morning, with only three members in attendance.
Underwood is scheduled to be executed next week for the brutal murder of his 10-year old neighbor in Purcell in 2006.