The last time Wayne Thompson and Tony Mann lived together, the two brothers shared a cell on Oklahoma's death row.
Both were originally sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of Charles Keene in Grady County.
Now, Thompson, who has been free on parole for nearly a year, hopes Mann can move in with him soon at his two-bedroom house in Ninnekah.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted Tuesday to unanimously recommend Mann for parole after more than four decades in prison.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense that he's still in prison when you're not," said board member Sean Malloy before casting his vote.
Gov. Kevin Stitt still has the final say on whether Mann, now 70, will be released.
Keene was married to Thompson and Mann's sister, Vickie. Family members say Keene had a history of violent and abusive behavior toward their sister, and the brothers wanted to protect her from further harm.
The night of the murder, Mann devised a plan with Thompson and two others to kidnap Keene, beat him and drop him off on a highway with orders not to return, according to court records.
Thompson, who was just 15 at the time of the crime, has repeatedly said over the years that Mann was not responsible for the killing. He testified in court that his older brother tried to talk him out of killing Keene. Mann was driving the car, but he tried to stop on the highway to let Keene out. Thompson said he threatened Mann with a gun, forcing him to park on a bridge over the Washita River. After shooting Keene multiple times, Thompson and another man weighed Keene's body down with a heavy chain and cement block before dumping him into the running water. Mann waited in the car until Thompson ordered him to bring the group back into town.
Four men were originally sentenced to death for Keene's murder. Mann is the only person still in prison for the crime. One of the men was stabbed to death weeks after arriving on death row in 1984. Another had his death sentence overturned and was acquitted after a second trial on testimony that he was drunk and passed out in the car during the killing. Thompson's death sentence was eventually reduced to life with the possibility of parole. Mann's sentence was also reduced in January, opening the possibility of parole.
Mann is being held at the James Crabtree Correction Facility in northwest Oklahoma and appeared at his parole hearing via video call. He expressed remorse for his part in Keene's death.
"I'm sorry … I tried to stop it, but I couldn't," Mann said. "I've thought about it and prayed about it many, many times over the years. It's something I've had to live with."
The board considered whether to add conditions that would delay Mann's release. But Chairman Robert Reavis II said Mann's old age and deteriorating health should be taken into consideration.
"We've taken a lot of his life," Reavis said. "He doesn't have much left."
Mann recently had to have an abscess cut out of his lung and a stent put in his heart, according to his attorney and family. He has also been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia.
About a dozen family members attended the meeting, wearing T-shirts printed with Mann's photo. Thompson is hopeful for a reunion with his older brother. He lives across the street from a senior nutrition center and has already started arranging for Mann to get lunch there and get "social interaction that you don't have when you're incarcerated."
"He's got the same support system that I had when I got out, which has been tremendous," Thompson said, looking around at the tearful group that filled the parking lot. "If I needed something and couldn't get there, all I had to do was make a phone call."
Thompson has thrived outside prison. He has a job at Heartland Energy Solutions hauling rig waste to disposal sites. He adopted a puppy and spends his free time with his friends and family.
Cindy Welch, another of Thompson and Mann's sisters, said she believes both her brothers deserve to be free.
"Tony deserves it just as much as Wayne," she said. "He'll be just as successful as Wayne has been. Tony deserves home."
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.
