First execution of 2025 set for lethal injection
McAlester, Oklahoma — Oklahoma is poised to carry out its first execution of 2025 on Thursday, putting to death Wendell Grissom, a 56-year-old convicted of fatally shooting a woman during a home-invasion robbery two decades ago. Grissom will receive a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, marking the state’s latest step in a busy week of executions nationwide.
The Associated Press reports that Grissom and his accomplice, Jessie Floyd Johns, were convicted in the 2005 killing of 23-year-old Amber Matthews and the wounding of her friend Dreu Kopf at Kopf’s Blaine County home. Johns received life without parole, while Grissom now faces the ultimate penalty for a crime prosecutors describe as chillingly random and brutal.
Court records paint a grim picture: Grissom, a criminal, picked up Johns, a hitchhiker, as they traveled west on Interstate 40. The pair decided to target homes for robbery, settling on Kopf’s residence near Watonga, where Matthews was visiting with Kopf’s two young children.
Prosecutors say Grissom shot Matthews twice in the head, leaving her dying on the floor, while Kopf—also shot twice—escaped in Grissom’s truck to seek help despite severe injuries. The assailants fled on a stolen four-wheeler but were apprehended after it ran out of gas and they hitched a ride to a nearby café.
Authorities found Kopf’s children unharmed inside the home, but Matthews succumbed to her wounds after being airlifted to an Oklahoma City hospital.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called the case a “textbook” justification for the death penalty, stating at a hearing last month, “The crimes committed by Grissom, random, brutal attacks on innocent strangers in the sanctity of their own home, are the very kind that keep people awake at night.”
Clemency denied amid lingering scars
Grissom’s legal team conceded his guilt but pleaded for mercy, arguing at a clemency hearing that undiagnosed brain damage—never presented to a jury—impaired his judgment.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board rejected the appeal. Attorney Kristi Christopher of the federal public defender’s office told the board, “He cannot change the past, but he is now and always has been deeply ashamed and remorseful,” noting Grissom penned an apology to Matthews’ family during his initial police interview.
Kopf, still bearing bullet fragments and emotional trauma, recounted her enduring pain to the board. “I lived in a heightened state of fear at all times,” she said tearfully, recalling years of dialing 911 at the slightest provocation—a doorbell or an unfamiliar face.
A week of executions nationwide
Grissom’s execution follows a flurry of capital punishments this week: Louisiana debuted nitrogen gas Tuesday to execute a man after a 15-year pause, Arizona lethally injected a killer Wednesday, and Florida has another execution slated for Thursday.
Oklahoma’s last execution, in December, brought its total to 127 since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1976. As Grissom’s fate looms, the case reignites debate over justice, retribution, and the scars left on survivors.
