Overview
- The Pardon and Parole Board recommended mercy in a 3–2 vote, setting up the rare commutation.
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to stay the execution earlier that morning, leaving the final decision to the governor.
- The commutation order imposes life without the possibility of parole and bars any future pardon, parole or commutation.
- Hours after the decision, Wood was found unresponsive in his cell; officials attributed the episode to stress and dehydration, and said he was later stable and alert.
- Reactions split quickly, with Attorney General Gentner Drummond and original prosecutors criticizing the move while members of Ronnie Wipf’s family and the surviving victim supported clemency.