USA - Gov. Kevin Stitt (OK)

USA - Oklahoma. Tremane Wood granted clemency on the morning of his scheduled execution

November 13, 2025:

November 13, 2025 - Oklahoma. Tremane Wood granted clemency on the morning of his scheduled execution

A death row inmate in Oklahoma was preparing for his scheduled execution Thursday when Gov. Kevin Sitt spared his life. The governor announced his decision to commute Tremane Wood's sentence from death to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Wood, 46, is the sixth condemned person to receive clemency in the state in the modern history of capital punishment.

Clemency came after a vote last week by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended it (see HoC 05/11/2025).

"After a thorough review of the facts and prayerful consideration, I have chosen to accept the Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation to commute Tremane Wood's sentence to life without parole," Sitt said in a statement Thursday morning. "This action reflects the same punishment his brother received for their murder of an innocent young man and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever."

Wood was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker from Montana, during a botched robbery at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, according to court records. He and his legal representatives maintained Wood's innocence in the murder, saying the inmate was involved in the robbery but not the killing — which, they say, his brother committed alone.

The brother, Zjaiton Wood, was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for Wipf's murder, court records show, and Tremane Wood's attorneys say he admitted he was responsible. Zjaiton Wood died while incarcerated in 2019, The Associated Press reported.

"We are profoundly grateful for the moral courage and leadership Governor Stitt has shown in granting mercy to Tremane," said Amanda Bass Castro-Alves, one of Wood's current attorneys, in a statement Thursday. "This decision honors the wishes of Mr. Wipf's family and the surviving victim, and we hope it allows them a measure of peace."

The announcement marked Sitt's second clemency grant since taking office, with the last going to former death row inmate Julius Jones in 2021. Jones' commutation came on the heels of significant public outcry over his case, as people questioned whether or not his conviction for murder was legitimate.   

Wood and Jones sought to overturn their death sentences in 2017 with a lawsuit that alleged Oklahoma's capital punishment infrastructure was racist and biased, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

Wood's attorneys have argued that he did not receive fair or adequate legal representation at his original trial or subsequent appeals, and has accused the prosecution in that initial case of misconduct, claiming some elements of how they handled it violated Wood's constitutional rights.

The state of Oklahoma has insisted over Wood's last two decades behind bars that he is a dangerous criminal who participated in illegal activities in prison. Wood has admitted to the prison conduct but insisted he did not have a part in Wipf's death.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-death-row-inmate-clemency-morning-scheduled-execution/