Oklahoma prepares for first execution of 2025 amid lethal injection plans

Oklahoma will carry out its first execution of 2025 on Thursday, when 56-year-old Wendell Grissom is scheduled to receive a lethal injection for the murder of Amber Matthews 20 years ago.

Grissom was convicted for killing Amber Matthews, and wounding her friend, Dreu Kopf, at Kopf’s Blaine County residence. He had attempted to rob the house alongside co-defendant Jessie Floyd Johns, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Math

Grissom is set to be executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

According to the Associated Press, Grissom had a lengthy criminal record. He met John while hitchhiking. The two decided to commit robberies while travelling on Interstate 40. They randomly chose Kopf’s house, where Matthews was on a visit with her two children.

During a clemency hearing, Wendell Grissom's attorneys argued that the man was suffering from brain damage. But, the Oklahoma's Pardon Parole Board denied his request.

How did Grissom kill Amber Matthews?

After invading the house, Matthews was shot in the head twice and left lying on the floor. Kopf, who also was shot twice, managed to flee for help using Grissom's truck. Meanwhile, the two men stole a four-wheeler to escape. However, they were captured in a nearby county after they ran out of gas.

Kopf told the board that she still carries deep mental and physical scars from the attack, including bullet fragments that remain in her body. “I lived in a heightened state of fear at all times,” she said tearfully.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has called Matthew’s murder a “textbook” death penalty case. The last person to be executed in Oklahoma was Kevin Ray Underwood. He was given a lethal injection in December last year, marking the 127th execution carried out by the state since 1976.