Tremane Wood has been confined on death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary since 2004 awaiting execution even though he didn’t kill anyone.
TREMANE IS ON DEATH ROW EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN’T KILL ANYONE.
Tremane Wood is a Black man on Oklahoma’s death row who was sentenced to death for his role in a robbery that left a white man dead. But there is no dispute that Tremane did not kill Ronnie Wipf. Tremane’s violent older brother, Zjaiton (“Jake”) Wood, confessed to the killing. Yet Jake was sentenced to life imprisonment while Tremane was sentenced to death.
AN ALCOHOLIC AND DRUG ADDICTED ATTORNEY WHO DID NOT WORK TO PREPARE FOR TRIAL.
This miscarriage of justice resulted in large part from the Oklahoma state courts providing Tremane with a contract trial lawyer who later admitted in a sworn affidavit that he “did not have enough time to adequately represent Tremane,” “was drinking on a regular basis,” did very little to investigate and prepare [Tremane’s] case for trial,” and “met with [Tremane] on a very limited basis and only when we were in court” before trial. Evidence has since emerged that the lawyer was also addicted to cocaine during the period he represented Tremane. Tremane’s lawyer accepted a $10,000 flat fee for his representation, which would have amounted to less than $1.00 per hour if he had done anything close to the work necessary to prepare a death penalty case for trial. But because of the lawyer’s neglect, Tremane’s entire death penalty trial, including jury selection, lasted for just 6 days and his lawyer presented no evidence in his defense.
The same lawyer represented two other Oklahoma defendants who were sentenced to death during the time he represented Tremane. Both received relief from their death sentences based on the lawyer’s ineffective representation. Tremane is the only one who still faces execution.
RACIAL BIAS IN THE TRIAL PROCESS
Tremane, a young Black man, was tried by a majority white jury with only a single Black juror. That juror has revealed that she was pressured to go along with the death verdict.
A bipartisan review of Oklahoma’s death penalty system released in 2017 determined that racial bias has played a significant role in the state’s death sentences, with Black defendants like Tremane being 2 to 3 times more likely to receive a death sentence based on race alone, along with inadequate defense counsel. Tremane’s case exemplifies these systemic problems.
JUSTICE FOR TREMANE 