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.3d 1279 (10th 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.3d 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.3d 1279, 1300–01 (10th 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.3d 607 (Okla. Crim. App. 2009); Littlejohn v. State, 181 P.3d 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).