Inmate granted clemency minutes before facing death penalty

Inmate granted clemency minutes before facing death penalty
Tremane Wood, 46, had already had his last meal when officials appeared at his cell door to communicate the governor’s decision to change his sentence to life imprisonment. By Staff g1
Inmate in the United States granted clemency minutes before being executed by lethal injection
Wood was saved moments before being executed – Photo: Reproduction
Governor Kevin Stitt (Republican) made the decision after the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended, by a vote of 3-2, that Wood’s sentence be reduced to life imprisonment.
Tremane Wood had already had his last meal when officials appeared at his cell door to communicate the governor’s decision. Upon hearing the news, he collapsed to the ground, overcome by emotion.
“He fell to the ground, overcome with emotion and gratitude to Governor Stitt for sparing his life, giving him a second chance, and delivering justice for the first time in 20 years,” said Wood’s lawyer, Amanda Bass Castro-Alves.
Oklahoma is one of the 27 American states that apply the death penalty. Another 23 do not adopt this type of punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center NGO. Since 1976, 1,649 people have been executed in the United States.
The case
Tremane Wood was convicted of the murder of Ronnie Wipf, 19, who was stabbed during a robbery attempt in 2002 in Oklahoma City. He has always claimed that the true perpetrator of the crime was his brother, Jake Wood, who committed suicide in prison while serving a life sentence. This is the second time, in almost seven years of government, that Governor Stitt has granted clemency to a convict.
“This decision ensures a punishment as severe as the one applied to the brother, keeping a violent criminal off the streets forever,” said the governor. The order signed by Stitt stipulates that Wood can never request commutation, pardon, or parole.
Oklahoma Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, said he was ‘disappointed’ with the decision, although he acknowledges that it was up to the governor to take that measure. Wood’s lawyer, Amanda Bass Castro Alves, said that she and her team are ‘deeply grateful.’
American, 46, saved moments before death penalty – Photo: AP
“This decision meets the wishes of Wipf’s family and the surviving victim, and we hope it provides them with some peace,” she stated. Several Republican lawmakers had also pressured Stitt to grant clemency. In the week before the governor of Oklahoma’s decision, the Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 in favor of converting Wood’s sentence.
George Burnett, one of the prosecutors who worked on the case originally, expressed concern about the weight a five-member board can have on a process debated for over two decades. He also stated that evidence indicates that Wood was the one who actually stabbed Wipf.
Lawyer alleges Wood’s innocence
In addition to insisting that Wood’s brother was the true killer, Castro Alves told the board that the defendant had an incompetent lawyer, who drank excessively at the time and did little work on the case. She also accused prosecutors of hiding from jurors the benefits given to witnesses in exchange for testimony. The defense had appealed to the US Supreme Court to suspend the execution, but the request was denied.
Prosecutors described Wood as a dangerous inmate, involved in gang activities and crimes in prison, such as drug trafficking, using illegal cell phones, and ordering assaults on other inmates. Speaking via video conference from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Wood admitted to misconduct in prison and his involvement in the robbery, but denied killing Wipf.
“I am not a monster. I am not a killer. I never was and never will be,” he declared.