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Emergency application · Capital case

Hidden deals with witnesses

Tremane Wood v. Oklahoma

Denied
No. 25A494Stay applicationFiled by a prisoner facing executionPresented to Justice KavanaughFrom Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on November 13, 2025 and refused to halt the execution.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Jackson would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 14 days after filing

What's being asked

Tremane Wood, a man sentenced to death, asks the Supreme Court to pause his execution while it considers his request to review his case. Wood says Oklahoma prosecutors hid a deal promising a witness a 35-year sentence for testifying against him; Oklahoma's criminal appeals court rejected his claims. His execution was scheduled for November 13, 2025.

What the Court did

The Court refused emergency help: it denied Wood’s request to pause his execution and denied certiorari (refused to hear the case). The order gives no full vote count; Justice Jackson would have allowed a temporary pause, and Justice Gorsuch took no part. The order does not decide whether Wood’s claims about the witness deal are correct.

  • Dissented
  • Did not take part
  • Vote not published
Dissenting · 1recorded against the Court's order
  1. Jacksonwould grant
Did not take part · 1
  1. Gorsuch
Vote not published · 7the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Sotomayor
  5. Kagan
  6. Kavanaugh
  7. Barrett
The order records the positions of 2 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Half of 89 rulings on capital applications decided without a response came 2 to 5 days after filing, and the median was 3 days; this one was ruled on 14 days after filing.

What it means

This emergency ruling deals with temporary relief and does not decide who wins the underlying claims. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals’ ruling rejecting Wood’s claims remains in place. The record lists no related Supreme Court case to decide the main legal questions and no argument date.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A494. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026