Convicted killer Jemaine Cannon, 51, received a lethal injection at 10:01 a.m. Thursday and was pronounced dead 12 minutes later at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. It was the second execution in Oklahoma this year and the ninth since the state resumed lethal injections in 2021.
Cannon was convicted of killing 20-year-old Sharonda Clark, a mother of two with whom Cannon had been living at an apartment in Tulsa after his escape weeks earlier from a prison work center in southwest Oklahoma. Cannon had been serving a 15-year sentence for the violent assault of another woman who suffered permanent injuries after prosecutors say Cannon raped her and beat her viciously with a claw hammer, iron, and kitchen toaster.
State prosecutors say Cannon repeatedly stabbed Clark in the throat and chest at her apartment in Tulsa, leaving her with multiple defensive wounds and severed jugular and carotid artery.
A federal appeals court late Wednesday denied Cannon’s last-minute appeal seeking a stay of execution in which Cannon claimed, among other things, that he was Native American and not subject to Oklahoma jurisdiction.
Asked if he had any last words, Cannon said: ‘Yes, I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore I am saved. Thank you.’
Clark’s eldest daughter, Yeh-Sehn White, and Clark’s sister, Shaya Duncan, witnessed Cannon’s execution and described it as peaceful.
‘In my opinion, he died in a very favorable way,’ White said. ‘Unfortunately, my mom did not have that opportunity.’
Cannon claimed at a clemency hearing before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board last month that he killed Clark in self-defense.
‘I am deeply disheartened that the act of defending my life and the acts that she initiated against me ever happened,’ Cannon told the board.
According to officials, Jemaine Cannon’s last meal included:
Vernors ginger ale
Cherry pie
Chicken breast
Sliced brisket
Seasoned fries
Fried okra
Sweet and smoky beans.
