Gov. Kevin Stitt granted clemency to death-row inmate Tremane Wood on Thursday, hours before his scheduled execution and a week after the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended the move in a close 3-2 vote. He will remain incarcerated for life without the possibility of parole.
“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,” Stitt said in a statement. “This action reflects the same punishment his brother received for their murder of an innocent man and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever. In Oklahoma, we will continue to hold accountable those who commit violent crimes, delivering justice, safeguarding our communities, and respecting the rule of law. I pray for the family of Ronnie Wipf and for the surviving victim, Arnie; they are models of Christian forgiveness and love.”
Roughly three dozen anxious supporters of Wood’s clemency had gathered outside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where the execution was set to take place Thursday morning. The tense silence was broken just before 10 a.m. by a member of the crowd shouting the news that Stitt chose to accept the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation. The news was greeted with raucous cheers of “We did it” as Wood’s supporters embraced.
Jasmine Brown-Jutras, an advocate for the Wood family, said she felt “nothing but joy and thankfulness” Thursday morning.
“(I’m) thankful for this community that showed up, for Tremane, thankful for Governor Stitt for making the right decision. Thankful to have Tremane here for another day (…) Tremane said it, he said it’s not over until it’s over. And it was literally to the last second. Not hearing until 10 a.m. was so hard, but we’re just so grateful that the right decision was made and that Tremane is still here,” Brown-Jutras said.
A judge sentenced Wood to death in 2004 after his first-degree murder conviction in the death of 19-year-old Ronald Wipf during a 2002 robbery in Oklahoma City. Tremane Wood’s brother, Zjaiton “Jake” Wood, testified in Tremane’s defense prior to his own trial. Jake Wood said he stabbed Wipf with a knife and that his brother had not been at the motel, a claim contradicted by other testimony. Tried and convicted after his brother, Jake Wood received a sentence of life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. He died by suicide in prison in 2019.
Wipf was a migrant farm worker from Montana who had stopped in OKC to celebrate New Year’s Eve with his friend and coworker, Arnold Jonathan Kleinsasser. The two men were members of Hutterite colonies. At a restaurant, the pair met Lanita Sue Bateman and Brandy Lynn Warden, who were girlfriends of the Wood brothers. Bateman and Warden agreed to have sex with Wipf and Kleinsasser for $210.
Prosecutors at the time said the meeting and offer for sex was part of a robbery plan that culminated in the stabbing death of Wipf. During the melee inside the motel room, Kleinsasser escaped and ran away.
On Nov. 5, Wood’s attorneys argued before the board that he originally received poor legal representation from an attorney who was in the throes of alcohol and cocaine addiction, and who did not ask the judge to relay instructions to the jury during Tremane Wood’s trial. That attorney, John Albert, died in 2018. He apologized to Tremane Wood in a letter before his death.
Tremane Wood’s current attorney, Amanda Bass-Casto Alves, told the board he was sorry for his actions that led to the death of Wipf, but that his punishment did not fit the crime.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued against Wood’s clemency before the board. In a statement released Thursday, the gubernatorial candidate said he was disappointed.
“I am disappointed that the governor granted clemency for this dangerous murderer, but respect that this was his decision to make,” Drummond wrote. “My office will continue working to ensure that Tremane Wood remains behind bars and that the public is protected from him.”
Oklahoma Coalition Against the Death Penalty chair Elizabeth Overman applauded the decision to grant clemency.
“This is a good turn of affairs in Oklahoma,” she said in a statement. “The possibility for justice and fairness still lives in our state.”
