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4h ago

Oklahoma Governor Commutes Tremane Wood’s Death Sentence Hours Before Execution

Stitt cited a narrow clemency recommendation alongside rare opposition from the victim’s relatives as key reasons.

Tremane Wood, condenado por un asesinato en Oklahoma en el 2001. Foto entregada por el Departamento Correccional de Oklahoma el 9 de febrero del 2023. (Departamento Correccional de Oklahoma via AP)
El hermano mayor de Tremane, Zjaiton Wood, se declaró culpable del asesinato. | Crédito: captura en X (@CyndiMunsonOK)

Overview

  • The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3–2 to recommend clemency, and Stitt accepted it by converting Wood’s punishment to life without parole.
  • Wood, 46, was convicted in 2004 for the New Year’s 2001/2002 stabbing death of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf during a failed robbery in Oklahoma City.
  • Defense attorneys contend Wood’s older brother, Zjaiton, inflicted the fatal wounds and later admitted responsibility before dying in prison in 2019, claims prosecutors dispute as they cast Tremane as dangerous.
  • Allegations of ineffective trial counsel and undisclosed benefits to witnesses were central to the clemency push, even as the U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute stay earlier Thursday.
  • Attorney General Gentner Drummond voiced disappointment with the decision, which is only Stitt’s second commutation for a death-row inmate after Julius Jones in 2021.