An Oklahoma loss of life row inmate was hospitalized Thursday after being discovered unresponsive in his cell, officers mentioned, simply hours after being granted clemency on the identical day he was scheduled to be executed.
Forty-six-year-old Tremane Wooden was granted clemency Thursday morning by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. After that call got here down, Wooden met together with his attorneys for “several hours,” in response to an announcement from the Oklahoma Division of Corrections. The company mentioned it then moved him off loss of life row and into a brand new cell.
In some unspecified time in the future, a correctional officer discovered Wooden “unresponsive” in his new cell, the division mentioned, and jail workers decided that he had “experienced a medical event that resulted in injuries.”
This Feb. 9, 2023, photograph offered by the Oklahoma Division of Corrections exhibits Tremane Wooden.
Oklahoma Division of Corrections by way of AP
Wooden was taken to a close-by hospital “out of extreme caution,” the place docs discovered that his “medical event” was as a result of “dehydration and stress,” the division mentioned.
He allegedly instructed Thompson that he had laid all the way down to sleep and “must have rolled off his bunk,” disclosing that the subsequent factor he remembered was waking “up in the infirmary” with “[his] head busted and [his] lip busted,” in response to the division.
Within the cellphone name, Wooden allegedly indicated to Thompson that he had not eaten or drank something since Wednesday night, the division added.
He was discharged from the hospital and returned to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the place he spoke together with his household and a non secular adviser, the division mentioned.
“I’m extremely proud of my team today,” ODOC Government Director Justin Farris mentioned in an announcement. “It is our statutory duty to carry out court-ordered sentences, and our staff always perform their duties with extreme professionalism and with the utmost respect and compassion. Today’s events highlight the tremendous job they do day in and day out, especially during high-profile events.”
Wooden had been sentenced to loss of life after being convicted, alongside together with his brother Zjaiton Wooden, within the 2001 homicide of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker from Montana, throughout a botched theft at an Oklahoma Metropolis resort.
Zjaiton Wooden was sentenced to life in jail with out parole. He died in 2019.
Tremane Wooden and his attorneys, nonetheless, had all the time maintained that whereas he was concerned within the theft, he didn’t perform the slaying, arguing that the homicide was dedicated by Zjaiton Wooden alone.
Final week, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board really helpful clemency for Tremane Wooden.
“After a thorough review of the facts and prayerful consideration, I have chosen to accept the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation to commute Tremane Wood’s sentence to life without parole,” Stitt mentioned in an announcement Thursday morning. “This action reflects the same punishment his brother received for their murder of an innocent young man and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever.”
This marked Stitt’s second clemency since taking workplace. Tremane Wooden can be the sixth condemned particular person to obtain clemency within the state within the trendy historical past of capital punishment.
Emily Mae Czachor
contributed to this report.
Extra from CBS Information
