The Final Countdown: An Execution Chamber Neighbour
In a transparent cell directly adjacent to the execution chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Tremane Wood awaits his fate. The 46-year-old man, scheduled for lethal injection on Thursday, 13th November 2025, finds himself at the centre of a legal and ethical storm that has drawn national attention to Oklahoma's capital punishment system.
Wood's current living conditions underscore the psychological toll of his situation. Moved last Thursday into a clear-fronted cell with constant surveillance, including during toilet use, he described the experience in one of his final permitted emails: "It makes my anxiety shoot through the roof." Authorities have also severed his phone contact with family and friends, removing one of his few emotional lifelines.
A Controversial Conviction and Confession
The case stems from the New Year's Eve 2001 fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Ronnie Wipf, who had recently arrived in Oklahoma City from Montana seeking farm work. Wood and his brother, Zjaiton "Jake" Wood, met Wipf and his friend Arnold Kleinsasser at a brewery and plotted to rob them. The plan involved two female friends inviting the men to a motel room under the pretence of offering sex for money, after which the armed and masked brothers would burst in.
During the subsequent struggle, Wipf was fatally stabbed. The brothers received separate trials, with Tremane's proceeding first. Critically, Jake voluntarily confessed during Tremane's trial that he had committed the actual murder. Despite this confession, prosecutors secured Tremane's conviction under Oklahoma's felony murder rule, which requires only participation in an armed robbery that results in death, not proof of delivering the fatal blow.
The legal representation during Tremane's 2004 trial has become a significant point of controversy. His court-appointed attorney, John Albert, later admitted to drinking heavily during proceedings, with other attorneys and court filings alleging cocaine use. Albert failed to call key witness Lanita Bateman, one of the women involved, who stated Jake admitted to her after leaving the motel that "he thought he'd killed a guy."
After securing Tremane's death sentence, Albert handed him a business card bearing the words: "I'm sorry. You got me at a bad time."
Family Trauma and Racial Disparities
Wood's defence team argues that Albert neglected to present crucial mitigating evidence about his client's background. Tremane's childhood was marked by severe domestic violence at the hands of his father, Raymond Gross, a police officer who once tied his mother to a bed, covered her with alcohol, and threatened to set her alight.
"He told me to tell my mother goodbye," recalled Andre Wood, 49, Tremane's brother. "Tremane saw a lot of abusive actions. We would hear my mother screaming."
The case also unfolds against Oklahoma's backdrop of racial disparities in capital sentencing. A 2017 Oklahoma Death Penalty Review report found that Black defendants who kill white people are approximately three times more likely to receive death sentences than white defendants in similar circumstances. Wood's jury consisted of all white members except one, and the presiding judge, Ray Elliott, faced accusations in a 2017 court affidavit of making racist comments, though he denied these allegations.
The Execution Protocol and Political Dimensions
If the execution proceeds, Oklahoma plans to use a three-drug protocol comprising Midazolam, Vecuronium bromide and Potassium chloride. This combination has drawn criticism from medical experts, including Dr Craig Stevens, pharmacology professor at Oklahoma State University, who warned: "There is a high likelihood of pain."
Midazolam, administered first, serves as a sedative rather than a true anaesthetic, potentially leaving the prisoner conscious. The second drug causes paralysis and suffocation, while the third induces cardiac arrest. Though the US Supreme Court has upheld the protocol's constitutionality, Justice Sonia Sotomayor commented that using Midazolam might expose prisoners to what could be "the chemical equivalent of being burned at the stake."
The decision now rests with Oklahoma's Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, a death penalty supporter who has previously authorised executions despite clemency recommendations. The state's Department of Corrections indicated that Stitt might not even issue a ruling, stating: "We proceed as usual until we hear from either the governor or the courts, which may never happen."
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond aggressively supports the execution, arguing that Jake's murder confession was false and claiming Tremane wielded the weapon. Wood's family believes Drummond, who is running for governor, is using the case for political advantage. "The aggressive actions that the attorney general took to try to get Tremane's execution was political," said Andre Wood. "I think he is doing it to show people he's a 'plays no games' type of person, just like Donald Trump. It's red meat for the base."
Unusual Opposition and Final Hours
In a surprising development, even the victim's family opposes the execution. Speaking from her home in a religious Hutterite community in rural Montana, Barbara Wipf, Ronnie's mother, expressed their position: "Our belief is that God will judge, that he will be judged on the judgment day."
Last week, the Oklahoma pardon and parole board voted three to two to recommend clemency, but this may prove insufficient. Wood maintains he doesn't deserve execution, telling his clemency hearing: "I'm flawed and in many ways a broken human being. But I am not a monster. I'm not a killer."
Jake Wood killed himself in prison in 2019 after Tremane's appeals failed. The Department of Corrections hasn't correctly spelled Tremane's name on its official website, listing him as "Termane" Wood—a small but symbolic error in a case riddled with larger questions about justice, representation, and the ultimate punishment.
As Wood prepares for what might be his final family visit on Wednesday, he remains in the transparent cell beside the execution chamber, awaiting a decision that will determine whether he becomes the 42nd execution in the US since Donald Trump resumed federal executions in January.
