News: Tremane Wood Supporters Call on Gov. Stitt to Grant Clemency before Thurs. Scheduled Execution
Regan Bowlby
News: Tremane Wood Supporters Call on Gov. Stitt to Grant Clemency before Thurs. Scheduled Execution
City News OKC: More voices in Oklahoma and across the nation plead for Governor Stitt to grant clemency to death row prisoner Tremane Wood
USA Today: A clemency board found that Tremane Wood shouldn't be executed. He's still scheduled to die
KGOU: Family of man on Oklahoma's death row asks Gov. Kevin Stitt for clemency
KOCO: Faith leaders rally to stop death row inmate Tremane Wood's execution after meeting with Gov. Stitt
KFOR: Faith leaders make plea to save the life of death row inmate Tremane Wood
KOCO: Less than 2 days before scheduled execution, advocates ask Gov. Stitt to grant Tremane Wood clemency
More voices in Oklahoma and across the nation plead for Governor Stitt to grant clemency to death row prisoner Tremane Wood
Patrick McGuigan, November 11, 2025
Joining the passionate calls for Governor Kevin Stitt to grant clemency to Oklahoma death row prisoner Tremane Wood, a quarter of leaders have joined a chorus of those supporting mercy for Wood.
The group have detailed specific reasons for their opposition, in response to a request for comments from this reporter.
Maria T. Kolar, an Associate Professor of Law at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, served the state on the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, which issued a detailed critique of Oklahoma's death penalty practices and protocols in 2017.
Speaking in her own voice in response to our inquiry, Professor Kolar said:
“In March of 2017, the 11 members of our bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission published a book-length report (The Report of the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/OklaDeathPenalty.pdf), in which we addressed a broad array of systemic problems undermining the use of the death penalty in Oklahoma. We made 46 specific recommendations for reform and unanimously recommended that the moratorium on executions that was in place at that time 'be extended until significant reforms have been accomplished.' Although executions returned to Oklahoma in October of 2021, it was not because 'significant reforms' had actually been accomplished.
"Tremane Wood's case includes many of the systemic failures that were catalogued in our 2017 Report: 1) prosecutorial misconduct, including both failure to turn over all required 'material evidence' to defense counsel and inappropriate prosecutorial argument seeking a death sentence (in particular, switching theories on who was 'the real killer' between Tremane Wood's death penalty trial and that of his brother, Jake Wood, one year later); 2) ineffective assistance of counsel, including an attorney who logged only two hours of out-of-court work on the case and utterly failed to get to know his client and learn about his tragic, violent, and abusive childhood, in order to give Tremane's jury a reason to spare his life; and 3) patently erroneous jury instructions, in particular, that Tremane's jury was not given the standard, required Oklahoma jury instruction for cases seeking a death sentence for 'felony murder,' which required the jury to specifically find that that when Tremane committed the armed robbery that ultimately resulted in Ronnie Wipf's death, Tremane was 'recklessly indifferent to human life.'
"Oklahoma law and the U.S. Constitution required that in order to even consider sentencing Tremane Wood to death, his jury had to find -- unanimously and 'beyond a reasonable doubt' -- that on the night of the robbery, Tremane was 'recklessly indifferent to human life.' Neither his own counsel, nor the prosecutors, nor the trial court spoke up to ensure that Tremane's jury was properly instructed on this issue. Consequently, the death penalty verdict rendered by Tremane Wood's jury lacked a critical and constitutionally required component: a jury finding of 'reckless indifference to human life.'
"Because Tremane Wood's death sentence was based on a legally and constitutionally inadequate jury verdict and was prejudicially tainted by both prosecutorial misconduct and patently ineffective assistance of counsel, and because there are no victims or family members of victims supporting this execution, Tremane Wood's death sentence should be commuted to a sentence of 'life without the possibility of parole. This case has been afflicted by persistent and prejudicial injustice, for which mercy, in the form of a reprieve from execution, is a minimal and very appropriate response.
"Governor Stitt, I humbly ask that you have mercy on Tremane Wood by commuting his death sentence and sparing his life.”
Joia Erin Thornton, Founder and National Director of the Faith Leaders of Color Coalition (FLOCC) told CityNewsOKC:
“The Faith Leaders of Color Coalition (FLOCC) represents more than 700+ pastors and lay leaders nationwide who are counting on Gov. Kevin Stitt to agree with the Oklahoma Parole and Pardon Board in recommending clemency for Tremane Wood, a Black man who lives on death row that endured representation from a trial lawyer who was highly unqualified and incapable of representing an individual in a death penalty case."
Senior Pastor Sean Jarrett, at New Jerusalem Tulsa, said, “For over 20 years, Tremane Woods has sat on Oklahoma’s death row for a crime he insists he did not commit -- a case marred by racial bias and inadequate defense. Justice, a pillar of the Christian faith, calls Governor Stitt to act with compassion and courage by granting clemency and choosing life over an unjust death."
As CityNewsOKC.com reported last week, "On Wednesday, November 5, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended that Tremane Wood’s death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment without parole. Governor Kevin Stitt now has the authority under state law to grant clemency to Mr. Wood and commute his death sentence. Mr. Wood is scheduled to be executed on November 13."
In a statement to CityNewsOKC.com, previously reported, commenting on the Board's recommendation, Amanda Bass-Castro Alves, attorney for Tremane Wood, said:
“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.
"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. 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.”
Advocates for mercy declared last weekend, "Governor Stitt is needed to stop the corruption in the Attorney General's office. Secret emails between [Attorney General Gentner] Drummond and the presiding judge show collusion."
Other critics of the death penalty include the national organization Catholics Concerned and the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City's leader, Paul S. Coakley.
Some want a 'stay', others want careful review of the state's processes.
In a commentary posted recently in The Oklahoman, state Senator Dave Rader, known as a conservative Republican, encouraged the state government to stay Wood's execution, in the interest of justice, to allow review of questions that have been raised.
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A clemency board found that Tremane Wood shouldn't be executed. He's still scheduled to die
Tremane Wood is set to be executed on Nov. 13 for the 2001 killing of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf, who was stabbed in the heart during an ambush robbery. Wood's brother confessed to the stabbing.
Amanda Lee Myers and Nolan Clay, November 11, 2025
An Oklahoma inmate convicted of murdering a teenager who belonged to a nonviolent religious sect remains scheduled for execution, despite a parole board's finding that he doesn't deserve to die.
Tremane Wood, 46, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, Nov. 13, for the 2001 killing of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf, who was stabbed in the heart during an ambush robbery at an Oklahoma City Ramada Inn. Wood's brother Zjaiton "Jake" Wood confessed to the crime, while Tremane Wood has always maintained his innocence.
Tremane Wood also had a poor defense attorney at trial, his current lawyers argued to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. The board granted clemency to Wood in a 3-2 vote on Nov. 5.
Tremane Wood told the board that the deadly robbery "was never supposed to happen like that" and said he should have done more to stop his brother from killing Wipf.
"I am the one who could have prevented it." Tremane Wood said. "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."
The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office maintains that Wood was the killer and deserves to be executed, writing to the clemency board that he "shows a total lack of remorse for his actions and a continuing disregard for the law."
Although the board recommended clemency for Wood, its members do not have the power to grant it. Only Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt can do that. The matter remains on his desk.
Here's what you need to know about the execution, including where Wood's case stands with Stitt, and more about who Wipf was.
When is Tremane Wood's execution scheduled?
Wood is set to be executed at 10 a.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, about 130 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.
It'll be the third execution in the state this year and it's one of two executions scheduled on the same day in the nation. About seven hours after Wood's execution, Florida is set to execute former Marine Bryan Jennings by lethal injection for kidnapping 6-year-old Becky Kunash from her bedroom and then raping and killing her in 1979.
On Friday, South Carolina is set to execute Stephen Bryant by firing squad for murdering a man named Willard Tietjen in 2004 and using his blood to to write "catch me if u can" on the wall.
If all three executions this week move forward, states will have put 44 inmates to death in the U.S. this year, a number that hasn't been seen since 2010.
What was Tremane Wood convicted of?
On New Year's Day in 2001, Ronnie Wipf and a friend were at a brewery in Oklahoma City when they began invited two women back to their hotel, according to court records.
The women agreed but it was a setup. The women were actually with two other men, Tremane Wood and his brother Jake, and they had a plan for Wipf and his friend: the women would pretend to be prostitutes and once Wipf and his friend got money to pay them, the Wood brothers would show up and rob them, court records say.
Once back at the hotel, Wipf and his friend agreed to pay the women $210 and went to an ATM. When the young men returned, the Wood brothers barged into the room armed with a knife and a gun, and wearing trench coats and ski masks.
A fight ensued and ended with Wipf on the floor, covered in blood and dying from a stab wound to the heart.
The state maintains that Tremane Wood was the killer and deserves to die. Zjaiton Wood was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, where he died by suicide in 2019.
Who was Ronnie Wipf?
Ronnie Wipf was born and raised near Chester in northern Montana, where he belonged to a colony of Hutterites, a religious sect of people who believe in nonviolence and describe themselves as living a communal lifestyle, farming, raising livestock and making goods for "sustenance living."
"Emerging as a distinct culture and religious group in the early 16th century, this non-resistant Anabaptist sect endured great persecution and death at the hands of the state and church in medieval Europe," according to hutterites.org. "However, the Hand of God remained on the shoulder of these people, and their descendants survived to battle to this very day."
As was common for young male Hutterites in Wipf's colony, Wipf left home to travel and planned to return within a year or two, according to an archived story in the Great Falls Tribune.
Wipf's dream was to make some money and buy his own semi-truck so he could do commercial trucking for a year before returning to the colony permanently, according to the newspaper, which said Wipf had visited home for Christmas a week before his murder.
"You can't believe it," Wipf's grandfather, a minister named Paul Wipf, told the Associated Press in 2002. "He was home for Christmas and we had a very enjoyable visit with him and just two days later that tragedy."
The Tribune reported that Wipf's family was visiting his grave every day, no matter how cold the weather, and wept as they told him about their day and how much they missed him.
Wipf's younger sister and father have since both died, and his mother, Barbara Wipf, declined to be interviewed for this story. Barbara Wipf told the Huffington Post earlier this month that Wood wrote 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.
While she said that Wood "should feel sorry," she doesn't want him to die: “They should let him live," she said, according to HuffPo.
She told the outlet that she fell into a deep depression after her only son was killed but found a way to cope with the help of medication.
“Sometimes all you can do is get it out of the system,” she said. “You cry and cry and cry. And then, you feel a little better.”
Oklahoma governor considering clemency recommendation
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt had not reached a decision about whether to accept the parole board's recommendation to grant Wood clemency as of Tuesday evening, with less than 48 hours before the execution.
The governor has previously granted clemency only one time, in 2021, to Julius Jones, who was hours away from being executed for the murder of an insurance agent during a 1999 carjacking.
Among the factors Stitt could consider is the fact that Wipf's family doesn't believe in the death penalty and that Wood's brother confessed to being the one who stabbed Wipf. Stitt could also give weight to the state's argument that Wood is an unrepentant menace who has spent his time in prison as a gang member who trafficked in drugs and contraband and orchestrated felony assaults.
"He is not sorry. He has not changed," the state wrote in its arguments against clemency. "It is all about him ... It is clear that the death penalty remains the appropriate sentence for Tremane Wood."
Wood's attorney, Amanda Bass Castro-Alves, argued in her clemency package that his older brother, Zjaiton Wood, "had a long and well-documented history of serious psychiatric illness and sadistic violence perpetrated on others," and was the one who stabbed Wipf.
Castro-Alves said Zjaiton Wood got a good trial attorney, while Tremane Wood got someone who "was admittedly unprepared, overworked, battling a substance addiction, and had no business representing someone facing the death penalty."
She continued to say that "clemency exists for cases like Tremane's" as a failsafe against mistakes "and as a means of restoring balance and delivering justice through mercy."
Tremane Wood also has an appeal pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Family of man on Oklahoma's death row asks Gov. Kevin Stitt for clemency
Sierra Pfeifer, November 12, 2025
Tremane Wood is awaiting a decision from Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has final say on whether he will be the next man executed on Oklahoma's death row.
Tremane Wood's brother, Andre, says he has talked to more reporters in the past few weeks than in his whole life.
"People in Oklahoma don't understand the severity and finality of death row until you have someone on there," he said after the Pardon and Parole Board voted to recommend clemency for his brother last week.
Right now, his brother is under 24-hour surveillance at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He's awaiting a decision from Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has final say on whether he will be the next man executed on Oklahoma's death row.
Andre said he can't imagine what it's like to be sitting in a holding cell, feet away from the execution chamber. He said he and his family members are doing everything they can to ask Stitt to show mercy.
"We have less than 48 hours before my brother is executed. And 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," Andre said to reporters gathered at the OKC First Church off the NW Expressway.
Parole board members voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Wood, citing possible prosecutorial misconduct and an ineffective trial attorney who was struggling with substance abuse.
Wood's attorneys said his trial lawyer, Johnny Albert, only billed two total hours for his work on the case, and later sent a letter to Wood in prison apologizing for his mistakes.
Faith and conservative leaders gathered to display their support for Wood's plea for clemency. Brett Farley, the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, said he had the chance to spend an hour with Tremane over the weekend.
"Tremane told me repeatedly that he deserves to be held accountable for his actions, and that he owns up to what he's done wrong," Farley said. "But he also deserves what all of us would expect, and that's a fair trial. He deserves justice. But when prosecutors essentially bribe witnesses to give false testimony, that's not justice.
"When prosecutors collude with judges to arrive at a preordained conviction, that's not justice. When the state appoints a defense attorney who suffers from extreme substance abuse, that's clearly not justice. When juries are not properly instructed and not shown critical evidence, that's absolutely not justice."
Farley said "the worst kind of injustice" is when top officials in the state "engage in unlawful and unethical behavior for the purpose of character assassination."
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has staunchly opposed Wood's request for clemency and appeared before the parole board, asking them to deny it.
"Tremane's story, mindset, behavior, have not changed," Drummond said. "The danger remains as clear and present as ever and no prison, no prison cell, will protect society from his evil and ongoing deeds."
State prosecutors pulled up pictures of Wood holding up gang signs and read text messages from contraband cell phones that show Wood distributed drugs and ordered a hit on another inmate while in prison.
In a press release after the board's vote, Drummond said his office would continue to pursue justice for Ronnie Wipf, who was killed in the 2002 stabbing for which Wood was prosecuted.
"We intend to make our case to the governor on why clemency should not be granted and why the death sentence, as determined by a jury, should be carried out," Drummond wrote.
Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt's office, said the governor will follow the same process he does after every clemency recommendation.
"He will meet with the defendant's attorneys, the attorney general's office, and the victim's family to ensure he has all the information needed to make a decision," Cave said. "He does not take the process lightly."
During his seven years in office, Stitt has granted clemency only one time for the high-profile case of Julius Jones. He has rejected clemency in four other cases, and a total of 16 men have been executed during his tenure.
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https://www.koco.com/article/tremane-wood-execution-meeting-gov-stitt-death-row-inmate/69384761
Faith leaders rally to stop death row inmate Tremane Wood's execution after meeting with Gov. Stitt
Faith leaders gathered Tuesday to urge Gov. Kevin Stitt to grant clemency to death row inmate Tremane Wood's sentence ahead of his scheduled execution.
Chantelle Navarro, November 11, 2025
Faith leaders gathered Tuesday to urge Gov. Kevin Stitt to grant clemency to death row inmate Tremane Wood's sentence ahead of his scheduled execution.
Tremane Wood's legal team met with Stitt on Monday to talk about the case. They said it was a productive meeting, and they are hopeful he will spare Tremane Wood's life.
"Today, we have less than 48 hours before my brother is executed," said Andrew Wood, Tremane Wood's brother, urging Stitt to take action. "Please, please grant my brother clemency. He doesn't deserve this."
It's the same message Tremane Wood's family has been pleading to Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board, which recommended clemency with a 3-2 vote last Wednesday.
Faith leaders echoed those calls for clemency on Tuesday at First Church in Oklahoma City.
"What's been painfully clear to all of us who have been working on behalf of Tremane Wood, and that is that he never received a fair trial," Brett Farley with the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned said.
The upcoming execution has also caught the attention of faith leaders across the country.
"Signed by over 300 faith leaders from around the country, 300 faith leaders stand together to say that they want to encourage Gov. Stitt to make the right decision," Jasmine Brown Jutras, a local community organizer, said.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he was disappointed by the Pardon and Parole Board's decision, and he said he will be urging the governor to side with the jury who sentenced Tremane Wood to death decades ago.
Stitt has only granted a death row inmate clemency one time. That was Julius Jones in 2021.
Since Stitt became governor, 16 people have been put to death.
"He's a father. He's a brother. He's a son. He's an uncle to my children, and we want him to be here with us," Andrew Wood said.
KOCO 5 reached out to Stitt's office to see if there has been an update on his decision but did not hear back.
Supporters of Tremane Wood will be gathering at Oklahoma City First Church beginning at 7 p.m. to rally one last time. There will be a prayer vigil Wednesday night, as well.
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Faith leaders make plea to save the life of death row inmate Tremane Wood
Austin Breasette, November 11, 2025
Tuesday marked another call to save the life of death row inmate Tremane Wood. The latest plea comes from Oklahoma faith leaders ahead of his scheduled execution on Thursday.
In less than 48 hours, Tremane Wood is set to be executed, and faith leaders met in northwest Oklahoma City Tuesday morning to try and stop that. They asked Gov. Kevin Stitt to follow the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation for clemency.
“It is our hope and a prayer that Tremane once and finally will receive the justice that is due to him,” Brett Farley with the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned said.
“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,” Tremane’s brother Andre said.
Wood was convicted of fatally stabbing 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf during an early morning robbery on New Year’s Day in 2002 at an Oklahoma City motel. Tremane’s brother, Jake, admitted he actually killed Wipf, but he was only sentenced to life. Tremane, meanwhile, got a death sentence.
“No execution should be carried out under such questionable circumstance,” Farley said.
Wood’s court-appointed attorney also admitted to drinking and using cocaine during the trial. That attorney’s license was eventually suspended. He had two other clients on death row at the same time, and those cases were retried with both defendants getting off death row. Those details were enough for the pardon and parole board to vote 3-2 in favor of granting clemency, which is something the attorney general’s office argued against.
“To this day, the only consistent activity that Tremane participates in is crip [expletive] and avoiding responsibility,” the attorney general’s team said during Wood’s clemency hearing on November 5.
“No prison and no prison cell can protect society from his evil and ongoing evil deeds,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said during the same hearing.
Wood’s fate is now in the hands of the governor, with time ticking. His execution date is set for Thursday.
“Tremane told me repeatedly that he deserves to be held accountable for his actions and that he owns up to what he’s done wrong, but he also deserves what all of us would expect, and that’s a fair trial. He deserves justice,” Farley said.
The week of the clemency hearing, Gov. Stitt’s office told KFOR that he is going through his normal procedures of meeting with the attorney general’s office, the victim’s family, and Wood’s attorney as well.
The last sentence he commuted was for Julius Jones, and that was in 2021.
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https://www.koco.com/article/tremane-wood-clemency-chance-gove-stitt-execution/69395479
Less than 2 days before scheduled execution, advocates ask Gov. Stitt to grant Tremane Wood clemency
Advocates are urging Gov. Stitt to grant clemency to Tremane Wood, citing doubts about his guilt and inadequate legal representation during his trial.
Evan Onstot, November 11, 2025
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recently voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for death row inmate Tremane Wood, urging Gov. Kevin Stitt to spare his life before his execution Thursday.
Faith leaders rally to stop death row inmate Tremane Wood's execution after meeting with Gov. Stitt
Wood's attorneys have met with the governor, arguing that Wood received inadequate legal representation during his initial trial, a point acknowledged by the Pardon and Parole Board in its decision.
Demetrius Minor, executive director of Conservatives Concerned, and Joia Thornton, founder of Faith Leaders of Color Coalition, met with Wood for more than an hour to discuss his case.
Minor said there is evidence suggesting Wood was not the actual killer, claiming Wood's brother admitted to stabbing the victim.
"If there's even a smidgen of doubt, an inch, if doubt exists in any way, shape or form, then that warrants the citizens of Oklahoma to amplify their voice and raise concern about the system and how it is currently implemented," Minor said.
Stitt has the final say on whether Wood is executed. The governor has only granted clemency for one death row inmate, Julius Jones. During his terms, there have been 16 people executed in Oklahoma.
"There has been over 200 people who have been exonerated from the death row system. So, again, we ask what number is comfortable for you before we start to question our capital punishment system," Thornton said.
In Jones' case, Stitt waited until hours before the execution to announce that he had granted the death row inmate clemency.