Clemency Denied For Death Row Inmate Jemaine Cannon

Death Row inmate Jemaine Cannon was denied clemency Wednesday in a 3-2 vote. Cannon was sentenced to death row in 1996 for stabbing a Tulsa mother.

Wednesday, June 7th 2023, 5:00 pm

By: Haley Weger

Death Row inmate Jemaine Cannon was denied clemency Wednesday in a 3-2 vote. Cannon was sentenced to death row in 1996 for stabbing a Tulsa mother.

Over the last two decades, Cannon has always said he acted in self-defense, but many, including the attorney general, don’t believe the evidence backs up that claim.

Cannon was sentenced to death row for the 1995 death of Sharonda Clark. At the time, Cannon was serving time in prison for a separate assault and escaped while taking part in a prison work program.

Shardona Clark was supposed to pick her two young daughters up from daycare that afternoon but never showed up. A family member contacted the police, and when officers arrived at Clark’s home, they found her body.

A Tulsa County jury convicted Cannon of beating and stabbing Clark to death after escaping from the Walters Community Work Center, where Cannon was serving a 15-year sentence for a 1990 attack on an 18-year-old woman.

In Wednesday’s clemency hearing, Clark’s attorneys said police found her on the bathroom floor with several stab wounds to her neck. Her carotid artery was severed, and her jugular vein was cut.

Additionally, a blood trail from her bedroom showed Clark had been in a violent fight for her life.

“Cannon murdered Sharonda without reason or provocation and despite having years in prison to think about what he's done; he continues to spin the same false narrative.”

Cannon argued he acted in self-defense.

“Even in acting in self-defense, the ending of human life was never desired, planned or premeditated, no murder occurred. Due to the acts committed against me I defended my life,” Cannon said.

A mother of two, Clark’s daughters asked the Pardon and Parole Board today to give their family justice and closure.

“I respectfully ask that you no longer entertain the foolery and pity that Mr. Cannon and his family have put on for years in the attempt for mercy, as mercy was never given to my mother before her life was taken from her, and at no point in the 29 years that has gone by has Mr. Cannon or his family shown remorse or sympathy regarding his actions,” the mother said.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement, “I am pleased the Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency for the monster who brutally murdered Sharonda Clark and deprived her two young children of their mother. Justice will be served when the death penalty is carried out July 20.”

Cannon is scheduled to be executed on July 20.