In a dramatic late‑hour decision, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt granted clemency to death row inmate Tremane Wood just minutes before he was set to be executed. Wood’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the state’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3‑2 in his favor.
Wood, now 46, was convicted for the 2002 stabbing death of 19‑year‑old Ronnie Wipf during a botched motel‑room robbery in Oklahoma City. Prosecutors contended Wood was the stabber in the attack; his older brother Zjaiton “Jake” Wood received life without parole and later admitted to the killing before his suicide in prison in 2019.
Wood’s legal team argued his trial was plagued with defects: his attorney allegedly struggled with substance abuse and failed to properly prepare, and prosecutors reportedly withheld information about key witness benefit deals. At the clemency hearing, Wood accepted responsibility for his role in the robbery but insisted he was not the one who inflicted the fatal stab wound. He addressed the board via video from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, stating: “I’m not a monster. I’m not a killer. I never was and I never have been.”
The move marks only the second time Stitt has granted clemency to a death row inmate during his time in office.
Organizations such as Hooked on Justice had protested the execution, citing that Wood was not a murderer and therefore, did not deserve to die. Wipf’s family also asked that he not face lethal injection, The Guardian reported.
“He admits his guilt in it, his part, but he wasn’t the killer,” said Hooked on Justice founder Emily Barnes.
In his clemency statement, Governor Stitt said the decision “reflects the same punishment his brother received … and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever.”
