The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has voted against recommending clemency for Wendell Grissom, a death row inmate convicted of the 2005 murder of Amber Matthews during a home invasion robbery. The decision was made at a hearing on Wednesday, setting the stage for Grissom's execution on March 20.

Grissom, now 57, declined the opportunity to address the board via a video link from the State Penitentiary in McAlester, as reported by ABC News. During his trial, Grissom admitted to shooting Matthews twice.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has described Grissom as a "cold-blooded killer," urging that "justice be carried out," according to a statement provided to News9. With the board's decision, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt now lacks the option to commute Grissom's death sentence without a clemency recommendation.

The case, which involved the fatal shooting of Matthews, a 23-year-old nurse, originated from a break-in in Blaine County where Grissom and an accomplice, Jessie Floyd Johns, attacked the occupants of a home, leaving Matthews dead and her friend, Dreu Kopf, wounded and carrying permanent scars from the assault. While Johns received a life sentence without parole, Grissom was sentenced to death.

Attorneys for Grissom, federal public defenders Kristi Christopher and Thomas Hird, did not contest his guilt, but highlighted his brain damage that they claimed negatively affected his impulse control, information they say never reached the jury. "He cannot change the past, but he is now and always has been deeply ashamed and remorseful," Christopher informed the board in a plea for clemency, as ABC News detailed. Jurors from the original trial, including the jury foreman, allegedly expressed to the attorneys that they might not have chosen the death penalty had they known of Grissom's neurological condition.

However, prosecution has opposed this line of defense. Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Crabb contested that Grissom's impulsivity was to blame, noting the premeditated nature of the crime. "The men loaded up with firearms and ammunition, bought gloves and made sure there were no men at the house before Grissom started shooting," she stated. Drummond reinforced this outlook, denoting Matthews' murder as a "textbook" capital offense, in comments to KOCO. Amid the hearing, Dreu Kopf shared her enduring trauma from the attack, explaining how the event left her living in constant fear, the repercussions of which she still contends with on a daily basis.

The outcome of the vote was 4-1 against recommending clemency for Grissom. This absence of mercy from the board marks a somber path forward for Grissom, who sits on death row with his execution date looming. Without a clemency recommendation, Stitt's record remains largely consistent with his history of clemency decisions; he has granted clemency only once during his six years in office, in a notable exception for death row inmate Julius Jones in 2021, just hours before Jones was to be executed.