USA: Pardon in Oklahoma for Tremane Wood and execution in Florida of Bryan Jennings
On the same day, one man in Oklahoma and one in Florida were to be executed by lethal injection. While Bryan Jennings succumbed to the “execution rage” of Ron DeSantis, Tremane Wood’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the governor in charge.
Tremane Wood (Oklahoma)
The governor of the US state of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, has given life to a condemned inmate shortly before his scheduled execution by lethal injection on Thursday morning and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment without parole.
Stitt officially granted clemency to Tremane Wood, 46, who was sentenced to death for the murder of a man during a botched robbery in 2002. It is only the second time the Republican governor has granted clemency in his almost seven years in office.
“After a thorough review of the facts and prayerful consideration, I have decided to accept the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Tremane Wood’s sentence to life in prison without parole. This measure is consistent with the sentence his brother received for the murder of an innocent young man and ensures a severe punishment that will keep a violent felon off the streets forever,” the governor said.
Stitt had previously granted clemency to death row inmate Julius Jones in 2021, but denied clemency recommendations in four other cases. In total, 16 men were executed during Stitt’s tenure.
While Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond expressed disappointment with the governor’s decision, it is known that the victim’s family opposes the death penalty and was opposed to carrying out the death sentence.
Wood was scheduled to be executed for his involvement in the murder of a 19-year-old Montana migrant worker during an attempted robbery at a north Oklahoma City hotel on New Year’s Day 2002. The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 3-2 last week to recommend that the governor grant clemency.
During the clemency hearing, Wood’s attorneys did not dispute that he was involved in the robbery, but stated that his brother was the one who killed the victim. Wood’s brother was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Before he died in prison in 2019, he admitted to several people that he had killed the victim, Tremane Wood’s attorney said.
Activists for the abolition of the death penalty were happy and grateful for Stitt’s decision, but at the same time questioned the cruelty of the fact that the governor waited until the last minute to announce his decision.
Bryan Jennings (Florida)
On Thursday evening, 66-year-old Bryan Jennings was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Florida. He had been on death row for over 45 years for kidnapping, raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in 1979.
Jennings’ mother told the jury in the trial of her son that he had never known his biological father and had been a problem child from birth. She described him as “very destructive and hyperactive.” She said she had wanted to commit Jennings to a psychiatric hospital in Boston on a doctor’s recommendation, but later changed her mind because she feared the stigma would prevent him from joining the military.
Jennings, a local high school dropout, described himself as a “mad dog”. He confessed to the crime to police: “I don’t know why I did it. I just did it.”
It was the 16th execution in Florida this year and the 42nd in the USA. Despite these rising numbers, Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Policy Project (DPPP) continues to speak of a decline in the death penalty in the United States.
Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis, who apparently wants to emulate the current US President in every respect and signs a new execution order roughly every two weeks, preferably of military veterans and prisoners without current legal counsel, is an exception nationwide.
Sources:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/13/us/oklahoma-execution-wood
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/11/13/bryan-jennings-florida-execution-becky-kunash/87257450007/