News update
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma inmate whose life was spared by Gov. Kevin Stitt just moments before he was to receive a lethal injection on Thursday was later found unresponsive inside his cell and rushed to receive medical attention, prison officials said.
Guards found Tremane Wood, 46, unresponsive in his cell during a routine check hours after his sentence was commuted and after he had visited with his attorneys, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kay Thompson. It was determined that dehydration and stress caused Wood’s medical event, and he was stable and alert Thursday evening, prison officials said.
Wood told Thompson he was alone in his cell when he went to lie down and believes he may have rolled off his bunk after losing consciousness, according to a recorded interview with Wood released by the Department of Corrections after he was taken to a hospital.
“I didn’t have all my senses,” Wood said in the recording. “I woke up in the infirmary with my head busted and my lip busted, and that’s pretty much it right there.”
Wood said he hadn’t eaten anything since the previous day, and that he didn’t try to harm himself.
At the end of the recording, Wood said: “Tell Gov. Stitt I said ‘thank you.’”
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Messages left late Thursday with Wood’s attorney were not immediately returned.
Wood was waiting in a cell next to Oklahoma’s death chamber Thursday morning when he learned Stitt commuted his sentence to life without parole.
Family members of the victim, who who grew up in a Hutterite religious community in Montana, supported Wood’s clemency. The governor cited their “Christian forgiveness and love,” in a statement announcing his decision.
Wood was sentenced for fatally stabbing Ronnie Wipf, 19, during a botched robbery in 2002, but Wood maintained that the actual killer was his brother, who died serving a life sentence. It is the second time the Republican governor has granted clemency during his nearly seven years in office.
“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,” the governor said.
Stitt’s order said Wood shall not be eligible to apply for or be considered for a commutation, pardon or parole for the rest of his life.
Stitt imposed similar conditions in 2021 after granting clemency to death row inmate Julius Jones. The governor rejected clemency recommendations in four other cases. A total of 16 men have been executed during Stitt’s time in office.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond was “disappointed that the governor has granted clemency for this dangerous murderer, but respect that this was his decision to make,” he said in a statement.
Wood’s attorney, Amanda Bass Castro Alves, said she and her legal team are “profoundly grateful.”
“This decision honors the wishes of Mr. Wipf’s family and the surviving victim, and we hope it allows them a measure of peace,” her statement said.
Several Republican lawmakers also had urged Stitt to grant Wood clemency.
Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 last week to recommend that the governor grant clemency.
George Burnett, one of the original prosecutors, said he’s concerned that a five-member parole board can have such a profound impact on a case that has been litigated for more than 20 years. He also asserted that the evidence suggests Tremane Wood was the one who fatally stabbed Wipf.
In addition to arguing that Wood’s brother was the actual killer, Castro Alves told the panel Wood had an ineffective trial attorney who was drinking heavily at the time and who did little work on the case. She also said trial prosecutors improperly concealed from jurors the benefits that witnesses received in exchange for their testimony. Wood’s attorneys had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution on these grounds, but were denied.
Prosecutors painted Wood as a dangerous criminal who continued to participate in gang activity and commit crimes while in prison, including buying and selling drugs, using contraband cellphones and ordering attacks on other inmates.
Wood, who testified to the panel via video link from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, accepted responsibility for his prison misconduct and his participation in the robbery, but denied being the one who killed Wipf.
“I’m not a monster. I’m not a killer. I never was and I never have been,” Wood said.
