Disclaimer: The article has mention of stabbing.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt granted clemency to Tremane Wood, a 46-year-old man who had spent over two decades on death row. Wood was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning. The governor’s decision came at the last minute, sparing Wood’s life after the Supreme Court declined to review his case earlier that day.
Stitt’s action marks the second time he has commuted a death sentence since taking office in 2019. “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,” Stitt said in a statement.
Wood’s case has long been controversial. In 2002, he, his brother, and two women were charged with first-degree murder for killing Ronnie Wipf during a botched robbery. Wipf died from a single stab wound, but under Oklahoma’s felony murder statute, prosecutors did not need to prove who actually killed him, only that each person participated in the robbery that led to his death.
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At Wood’s trial, prosecutors argued he was the one who stabbed Wipf. The following year, at his brother’s trial, they claimed the brother was the killer. Wood denied stabbing Wipf and was represented by a lawyer struggling with drug addiction who billed almost no work on the case. His brother, who confessed to the murder, was sentenced to life without parole. However, he died by suicide in 2019.
Wood’s legal team uncovered evidence that prosecutors lied to jurors about incentives given to two witnesses in exchange for their testimony, as HuffPost reported. Despite this, District Judge Susan Stallings denied Wood relief, and her ruling closely matched the version proposed by the state. Details have also emerged about the relationship between Stallings and Fern Smith, one of the prosecutors accused of misconduct.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, running for governor on a tough-on-crime platform, pushed hard for Wood’s execution. He cited texts and photos from contraband phones found in Wood’s cell, accusing him of ongoing violence and deceit.
Drummond argued, “His pattern of violence and deceit has not ceased, it has merely adapted. The same vicious intent that fueled his original crimes endures today, revealing a hardened, unrepentant mind driven by deceit and a complete disregard for human life.”
Before execution, Wood had the chance to appear at a clemency hearing. The Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 in favor of clemency. Wood’s family, including his 17-year-old niece Brooklyn, described him as the “glue” in their family and her “best friend.”
She said, “All I can ask is for you to put yourself in my shoes, where you’re about to lose your best friend and the only person that keeps you up and going in the morning. I always look forward to that one, single 20-minute phone call. All I ask is you, as the clemency board, please spare my uncle.”
Wood was the last to speak at the hearing. He said, “It never should have happened. I had the power to say no that night and to say, ‘We’re not going to do this.’ I could have prevented Ronnie’s death. I could have prevented Arnold from being in that situation and the trauma that he suffered. All the damage coming from that night, which destroyed their family as well as mine, was preventable. And I’m the one who could have prevented it. Having the courage to stand up and man up and say that night — and say no, could have prevented all of this from happening. And for not doing that. I’m truly sorry.”
He continued, “I’m not a monster, I’m not a killer. I never was and I never have been. The person I am deep inside is a son, a brother, a father, an uncle, a friend and a grandfather — something that I never thought I would live to experience. I ask you, board members, to see something in my life worth value.”
‼️CLEMENCY GRANTED: This is a statement from Governor Stitt after choosing to not execute Tremane Wood @koconews pic.twitter.com/i4BjzDxvEr
— Alyse Jones KOCO (@KOCOAlyse) November 13, 2025
Advocates celebrated the governor’s decision. Jasmine Brown-Jutras, a community organizer, said, “Nothing but joy and thankfulness — 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 till it’s over,’ and it was literally till the last second. Not hearing until 10 a.m. was so hard, but we’re so grateful that the right decision was made and that Tremane is still here with us.”
Amanda Bass Castro-Alves, one of Wood’s attorneys, said, “We are profoundly grateful for the moral courage and leadership Governor Stitt has shown in granting mercy to Tremane. This decision honors the wishes of Mr. Wipf’s family and the surviving victim, and we hope it allows them a measure of peace.”
Barbara Wipf, mother of the victim, told HuffPost, “No matter what they would have done, it wouldn’t bring Ron back.” The surviving victim, Arnie Kleinsasser, responded with verses from the Bible: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”
Wood’s mother, Linda Wood, said, “I’m so, so grateful for everyone who fought so hard and diligently to save my son. For the first time in months I’m able to breathe.”
Wood’s sons, Brenden Wood and Tremane Wood Jr., embraced members of his legal team outside the prison. Brenden, an active-duty military member, drove nearly 18 hours from his posting to witness the execution.
Stitt’s decision has been praised by lawmakers and advocates who see it as a step toward justice in a case marked by deep inequalities and troubling circumstances.
