Deeply Rooted Oklahoma Case Spotlight: Tremane Wood

Tremane Wood

Tremane Wood was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in Oklahoma County in 2004.[1] He was sen­tenced to death for the mur­der of Ronnie Wipf dur­ing the com­mis­sion of a rob­bery, a mur­der that his broth­er, Zjaiton ​“Jake” Wood, admit­ted com­mit­ting.[2] However, Jake was rep­re­sent­ed by a lit­i­ga­tion team that worked dili­gent­ly to secure a life sen­tence.[3] Meanwhile, Tremane was appoint­ed John Albert, an over­worked attor­ney who was strug­gling with alco­hol and sub­stance use dis­or­ders while han­dling approx­i­mate­ly 100 cas­es.[4] Albert rep­re­sent­ed two oth­er cap­i­tal defen­dants at the same time he rep­re­sent­ed Wood, and both have been grant­ed relief because Albert’s sub­stance use impaired his abil­i­ty to effec­tive­ly advo­cate for them.[5]

Had Albert inves­ti­gat­ed and pre­pared mit­i­ga­tion evi­dence, he could have pre­sent­ed a detailed his­to­ry of trau­ma and abuse that plagued Wood’s child­hood, includ­ing the harm­ful effects of grow­ing up bi-racial in a rur­al, pre­dom­i­nant­ly white com­mu­ni­ty.[6] Furthermore, he could have shown the jury that Wood’s lack of a strong parental fig­ure led him to idol­ize his old­er broth­er Jake.[7] Without a strong advo­cate, Wood was unequipped to effec­tive­ly chal­lenge some of the ways that race played a role in his case.

The vic­tim in this case was a white man from Montana, while Wood is bi-racial (white and Black).[8] Judge Ray Elliott, the judge who presided over Wood’s tri­al and his appeal regard­ing the inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel claim, has made trou­bling remarks about peo­ple of col­or.[9] Judge Elliott was over­heard refer­ring to Mexicans as ​“noth­ing but filthy ani­mals” who ​“deserve to all be tak­en south of the bor­der with a shot­gun to their heads” and ​“if they need­ed vol­un­teers [to do so] that he would be the first in line.”[10]

Moreover, only one Black per­son served on Wood’s jury, and she has since said that she felt pres­sured and bul­lied into return­ing a death sen­tence. At tri­al, when asked by the judge about the death ver­dict, the juror, who was the foreper­son, said ​“I signed the one for death because every­body was wait­ing on me. I didn’t want every­one to be here.” [11]

[1] Wood v. Carpenter, 907 F.3^d 1279 (10^th Cir. 2018); Wood v. Trammell, NO. CIV-10 – 0829-HE, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147184, *1 (W.D. Okla. 2015).

[2] Wood v. State, 158 P.3^d 467, (Okla. Crim. App. 2007) (stat­ing that Jake tes­ti­fied that he was the one who stabbed Wipf).

[3] Aff. of Wanda Tyner, Ex. 15 to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Wood v. Workman, No. 5:10-cv-00829-HE (W.D. Okla. June 30, 2011) (stat­ing that Tyner, Jake’s attor­ney, was a cap­i­tal tri­al attor­ney with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, and that Jake’s defense team con­sist­ed of three attor­neys and two inves­ti­ga­tors); cf. Aff. Of John Albert, Ex. 2 – 3 to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Wood v. Workman, No. 5:10-cv-00829-HE (W.D. Okla. June 30, 2011) (stat­ing that Albert, Tremane’s attor­ney, did not rely on co-coun­sel dur­ing his rep­re­sen­ta­tion of Tremane, did not hire or depend upon an inves­ti­ga­tor, and had a sub­stance abuse prob­lem dur­ing his rep­re­sen­ta­tion of Tremane, for which his law license was later suspended).

[4] Aff. Of John Albert to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Wood v. Workman, No. 5:10-cv-00829-HE (W.D. Okla. June 30, 2011); Wood v. Carpenter, 907 F.3^d 1279, 1300-01 (10^th Cir. 2018).

[5] Aff. Of John Albert to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Wood v. Workman, No. 5:10-cv-00829-HE (W.D. Okla. June 30, 2011); Fisher v. State, 206 P.3^d 607 (Okla. Crim. App. 2009); Littlejohn v. State, 181 P.3^d 736 (Okla. Crim. App. 2008).

[6] Report of Kate Allen, LCSW, Ph.D., and C.V., Exhibit 18, 6 – 7, to Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Wood v. Workman, No. 5:10-cv-00829-HE (W.D. Okla. June 30, 2011).

[7] Id. at 4.

[8] Id. at 6 – 7; Third Application for Post-Conviction Relief at 11, Wood v. Oklahoma, PCD-2017 – 653 (Okla. Crim. App. Jun. 23, 2017).

[9] Nolan Clay, Complaints against Oklahoma City Pharmacist Case Judge, TulsaWorld, NewsOK​.com, Jan. 7, 2011.

[10] Id.

[11] Third Application for Post-Conviction Relief at 23, Wood v. Oklahoma, PCD-2017 – 653 (Okla. Crim. App. Jun. 23, 2017).