The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, who was sentenced to death for the 2002 stabbing of Ronnie Wipf during a robbery at an Oklahoma City motel.
The final decision about whether Wood will be executed this month now falls on the shoulders of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.
Tremane Wood's older brother, Andre Wood, said he hopes Stitt will consider the case in full.
"I think that what the clemency board here showed today was that you need to know exactly what's going on before you go to pass judgement," he said following the clemency hearing. "And I'm hoping that Governor Stitt can see the same thing that the clemency board saw."
Andre was one of many of Wood's family members and supporters present for the hearing, wearing a green T-shirt with Tremane's name printed across the front.
The victim's family declined to be present for the proceedings.
Wipf's mother, Barbara, and the surviving victim, Arnold Kleinsasser, have spoken out against Wood's execution as recently as last weekend, Wood's lawyers said.
"They have been publicly speaking up for the value of Tremane's life, despite the pain that he has caused them," said attorney Amanda Bass Castro Alves.
Castro Alves argued Wood should have never been given the death penalty, and prosecutorial misconduct and an ineffective trial attorney struggling with substance abuse led the jury to consider such a harsh penalty.
The murder took place on New Year's Day in 2002. The victims, Ronnie Wipf and Kleinsasser, were traveling through Oklahoma on their way back to Texas to work on a harvest crew. Wipf, 19, was stabbed in the chest during a struggle after two masked men rushed into the motel room where they were staying.
Wood's lawyers and prosecutors disagreed about whether Wood was the one who stabbed and killed Wipf. Castro Alves said it was the other masked man, Wood's older brother Zjaiton "Jake" who yielded the knife.
At his 2004 trial, Zjaiton "Jake" Wood claimed he was the stabber. He received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murder. He committed suicide in prison in 2019.
In a separate trial, jurors found Tremane Wood guilty of first-degree murder and chose the death penalty.
Prosecutors argued Tremane Wood committed the murder, as they painted a picture of a "hardened, unrepentant" man who should not be granted clemency.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said Wood was a violent offender and still poses a threat to the public.
"Clemency is not a right," Drummond said. "It is an act of mercy, considered only for those who, at minimum, demonstrate genuine remorse and moral transformation. Tremane Wood has done neither."
Drummond and prosecutors from his office said Wood continued to participate in gang activity and commit crimes while in prison, including using contraband cellphones, buying and selling drugs and ordering an attack on another inmate.
"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 a photo of him shirtless, with circles around tattoos on his torso suggesting a connection to the Hooper Crips gang.
"I'm not a monster," Wood told the board. "I'm not a killer. I never was and I never have been." He joined via video conference from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
"Not a day goes by in my life that I do not think about Ronnie and how much his mom and dad are suffering because they don't have their son anymore," he said.
Parole board members Susan Stava, Robert Reavis II and Kevin Buchanan voted to recommend clemency for Wood. Richard A. Miller and Sean Malloy voted against it.
Reavis said he was concerned about the state executing a man who didn't receive sufficient representation at trial.
"When you're asking for the death penalty, there's a high standard," he said to state prosecutors. "I'm not sure that this attorney met that high standard. You can address it. I would like for you to. Because it's embarrassment."
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."
Stitt has granted clemency only one time during his nearly seven years in office. That was in the high-profile case of Julius Jones. Stitt has rejected clemency in four other cases, and a total of 16 men have been executed during his time in office.
Wood's brother, Andre, said he and his family remain hopeful.
"We've always retained hope," Andre said. "We've always wanted to make sure that my brother's story was heard, of him as a person and not just his case."
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
