Oklahoma Reschedules Execution of Jemaine Cannon from March 9, 2023, to July 20, 2023

Jemaine Cannon, Oklahoma

Updated: Monday, March 6, 2023

Oklahoma had planned to execute Jemaine Cannon on Thursday, March 9, 2023. His execution has been rescheduled to Thursday, July 20, 2023. Fifty-one-year-old Jemaine is convicted of murdering Sharonda White Clark on February 3, 1995, in her Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment. Jemaine has been on death row in Oklahoma for the last 26 years.

Jemaine Cannon alleged that he was physically, mentally, and emotionally abused as a child.

In 1991, Jemaine Cannon received a 15-year prison sentence for shattering the skull of an 18-year-old woman during an attack. While serving that sentence he was placed in a minimum security work center in southwestern Oklahoma. On January 13, 1995, Cannon managed to escape from prison by stealing a vehicle from the work site. A few days later, the vehicle was found abandoned in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Two weeks later, on February 5, 1995, the body of Sharonda Clark, Cannon’s girlfriend, was found in her apartment. It was later determined that she had died two days prior. Cannon fled to Flint, Michigan the day after Sharonda’s death.

Before his arrest, Cannon confessed to his mother that Sharonda was dead, claiming that she had fallen on the knife during an argument in which she attacked him. Later, while talking with police, Cannon admitted to stabbing Sharonda after she attacked him, causing him to snap. However, no defensive injuries were noticeable on Cannon’s body after his arrest.

Cannon was convicted by a jury and sentenced to death on April 11, 1996.

Cannon was scheduled to be executed on March 9, 2023. At the request of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, his execution is rescheduled to July 20, 2023. Drummond requested that several of the upcoming scheduled executions in Oklahoma be rescheduled to allow more time between executions. Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections is currently understaffed and preparing for an execution is time intensive.

Please pray for healing for the family of Sharonda Clark. Please pray for strength for the family of Jemaine Cannon. Pray that if Jemaine is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that evidence is presented before the execution. Pray that Jemaine finds peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

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