- “The man who actually carried out the killing confessed that he did so and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, co-defendant Tremane Wood was sentenced to death.” – Dr. Elizabeth Overman
By Vanguard Staff
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma is moving forward with the scheduled Thursday execution of death row prisoner Tremane Wood, even as the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 last week to recommend clemency and a broad coalition of faith leaders, civil rights advocates and members of the victim’s family continue to urge Gov. Kevin Stitt to halt the execution.
The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will hold its “Don’t Kill for Me” community gathering Thursday at 9 a.m. outside the Governor’s Mansion, one hour before Wood’s scheduled 10 a.m. execution. A simultaneous gathering will take place outside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
According to organizers, groups joining Thursday’s events include Tremane’s Family, the Tremane Wood Foundation, the ACLU of Oklahoma and the Julius Jones Institute. Organizers said the demonstration is meant to highlight what they describe as deep flaws in Wood’s prosecution and sentencing and the urgent need for intervention before the execution proceeds.
Wood was convicted for the 2002 stabbing death of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf, although his brother Jake admitted he was the one who killed Wipf and received a life sentence. The Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Nov. 5 to recommend that Wood’s death sentence be commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
Dr. Elizabeth Overman, chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said, “Tremane Wood did not receive adequate representation at trial. He and his family have been betrayed by the State of Oklahoma which is supposed to ensure that all court proceedings are fair and just.”
She continued, “The man who actually carried out the killing confessed that he did so and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, co-defendant Tremane Wood was sentenced to death.”
Overman added, “The family of the murdered man is asking that Tremane Wood not be executed. There is a legal case pending pointing to the prosecutor who failed to disclose all of the evidence. Moving to execution is always wrong. In this case it is an unusually visibly damaging travesty of fairness and justice.”
Organizers said participants at Thursday’s gathering plan to stand in silence until a stay is issued or the execution is carried out. They said the vigil will end with a circle of prayer and contemplation and will be canceled if the state postpones or halts the execution.
If carried out, Wood, 46, would be the third person executed in Oklahoma this year and the eighteenth since the state resumed executions in October 2021 after a six-year moratorium.
Following the clemency vote, Wood’s attorney, Amanda Bass Castro-Alves, issued a written statement. “We are grateful to the Board for carefully considering all of the evidence showing that Tremane’s death sentence is excessive and is the direct result of a trial lawyer who abandoned him and who failed to give the jury all the information it needed to reach a fair and reliable decision over his punishment,” she said.
She added, “The Board’s clemency recommendation today restores public faith that, when confronted with manifest miscarriages of justice, criminal justice system actors can, and will, intercede to correct course and prevent those from occurring.”
Her statement continued, “Given the facts that Tremane is facing execution for a felony murder conviction where he did not kill anyone, where the confessed killer received a life sentence and is now deceased, and where the victims have also publicly called for mercy for Tremane, we hope Governor Stitt will accept the Board’s recommendation and agree that clemency is warranted in this case.”
Faith leaders also urged Gov. Stitt to intervene. Brett Farley of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned said, “It is our hope and a prayer that Tremane once and finally will receive the justice that is due to him.”
Andre Wood, Tremane’s brother, told KFOR, “We as the family, just ask Governor Stitt to please look at everything that was done in this trial that shows that my brother was not, did not receive a fair trial.”
During the Nov. 5 clemency hearing, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office argued against commuting Wood’s sentence. According to KFOR, the attorney general’s team said, “To this day, the only consistent activity that Tremane participates in is crip [expletive] and avoiding responsibility.”
Attorney General Gentner Drummond told the board, “No prison and no prison cell can protect society from his evil and ongoing evil deeds.”
USA Today reported that Wood addressed the board directly, saying the robbery “was never supposed to happen like that” and telling members, “I am the one who could have prevented it.” He added, “Having the courage to stand up and man up … that night and say, ‘No,’ could have prevented all of this from happening. And for not doing that, I’m truly sorry.”
Wipf’s mother, Barbara Wipf, told the Huffington Post earlier this month that Wood sent her an apology letter last year. “He wrote me how sorry he is, which I believe, because my religion tells me he wrote the truth,” she said.
She told the outlet that while Wood “should feel sorry,” she does not believe he should be put to death. “They should let him live,” she said.
Gov. Stitt has not announced a decision. His office told KFOR he is following his standard process of meeting with the Attorney General, the victim’s family and Wood’s attorneys. Stitt last granted clemency in 2021 to death row prisoner Julius Jones.
Wood also has an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The State of Oklahoma filed its response on Nov. 12, urging the Court to deny review and stating that his claims “lack merit” and that there was “no evidence” supporting the allegation that the state withheld a plea agreement from a cooperating witness.
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Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has halted the scheduled execution of Tremane Laitron Wood, 46, which was to take place at 10 a.m. this morning. By granting clemency, Gov. Stitt has followed the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation to commute Mr. Wood’s death sentence to life without parole.
Mr. Wood was sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 murder of Ronnie Wipf in Oklahoma City, even though Tremane never killed anyone.
In response to Gov. Stitt granting clemency to Tremane Wood, Dr. Elizabeth Overman, OK-CADP Chair, made the following statement:
“This is a good turn of affairs in Oklahoma. The possibility for justice and fairness still lives in our state.”
Statement from Demetrius Minor, Executive Director, Conservatives Concerned:
“We are extremely grateful to Governor Stitt for granting clemency for Tremane Wood. This brings tremendous relief to his family and the state of Oklahoma. Be not mistaken, the death penalty remains a failed policy marked by serious errors. As conservatives, we will continue to fight this costly, unchecked government power that is shrouded in secrecy.”
Conservatives Concerned is a nationwide group of conservatives questioning whether capital punishment is consistent with conservative principles and values due to the system’s inefficiency, inequity, and inaccuracy. To learn more, go to http://www.conservativesconcerned.org.
This article like so many in VG seems to be lacking the ‘other side’. I mean at least it quoted the AG as saying,
“To this day, the only consistent activity that Tremane participates in is crip [expletive] and avoiding responsibility.” and “No prison and no prison cell can protect society from his evil and ongoing evil deeds.”
But is that their argument for executing him, or just something the AG said? First of all, usually “[expletive]” is extraneous, but in this case, I don’t understand what it substitutes for — what is a “crip [expletive]” ??? — and so the meaning of the sentence is lost, and second the AG’s perceived “evil and ongoing evil deeds” is not a reason to execute someone, so really unclear on how this is an ‘argument’ to execute them.
Also, using “Mr. Wood” is confusing since I believe all brothers were “Mr. Wood” one is dead and one is (was) scheduled to be dead and another brother speaking on their behalf (???) – but not clear if I read it right and not going to spend too much time to figure it out.
And also the photo has no caption, so I’m not clear who is being executed, and who the other person in the picture is. I’m going to guess not a brother, either way :-|