2023-07-20 17:48:02
McALESTER, Oklahoma (AP) — Oklahoma executed an Oklahoma man Thursday for stabbing a woman to death with a butcher knife in 1995 following breaking out of a prison work facility.
Jemaine Cannon, 51, received the lethal injection at 10:01 am 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 Sharonda Clark, 20, a mother of two with whom Cannon lived in a Tulsa apartment. Weeks earlier, Cannon had escaped from a prison work facility in southwestern Oklahoma. He was serving a 15-year sentence for beating another woman who suffered permanent injuries following Cannon raped her and brutally beat her with a hammer, iron and toaster, according to prosecutors.
A federal court last night rejected Cannon’s last-minute appeal to have his execution stayed, stating among other things that he was a native and not subject to Oklahoma jurisdiction.
Asked if he had any last words, Cannon said: “Yes, I confess with my mouth and I 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 mother did not have that opportunity.”
At a clemency hearing before the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles last month, Cannon said he killed Clark in self-defense.
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Jake Bleiberg contributed to this report.
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