Jemaine Cannon's Last Words Before Oklahoma Execution

Jemaine Cannon died by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Thursday. He was 51 years old.

According to a report from the Associated Press (AP), Cannon received a lethal injection at 10:01 a.m. CDT (11:01 a.m. EST) and was pronounced dead 12 minutes later. He is the second person to die by lethal injection in the state of Oklahoma this year.

Cannon was convicted in 1996 for the killing of 20-year-old Sharonda Clark, who was found stabbed to death in her apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in February 1995. Clark was discovered by police after a relative had reported the young mother missing when she failed to pick up her two young children from school.

According to court documents, Cannon had been serving a 15-year-sentence for brutally attacking an 18-year-old woman, and escaped from a work center roughly three weeks prior to Clark's death. Clark was harboring Cannon in her apartment after he escaped detention.

Cannon claimed that he stabbed Clark out of self-defense and never meant to kill her. Police said that there were no noticeable wounds on Cannon's body when he was arrested, however.

On Thursday, when 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."

Cannon's last meal consisted of a Vernors ginger ale, chicken breast, sliced brisket, seasoned fries, fried okra, sweet and smoky beans, and cherry pie, according to officials who spoke with KFOR.

Clark's eldest daughter, Yeh-Sehn White, and Clark's sister, Shaya Duncan, witnessed Cannon's death, reported AP. Both women described it as peaceful.

"In my opinion, he died in a very favorable way," White said. "Unfortunately my mom did not have that opportunity."

In June, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denied a clemency petition from Cannon's lawyers, who had argued that there was a "dispute as to who attacked whom first" in the struggle that led to Clark's death.

The decision to deny Cannon's petition was celebrated by Clark's daughter, Mazurennae, who was 2 years old at the time of her mother's death. Her older sister was 4 years old at the time of the killing.

"Relief for my family, relief for my sister's pain, relief for my grandmother that didn't make it to see this day," Mazurennae Clark previously told KWTV.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), 14 people have died by lethal injection in the United States this year. Cannon is the ninth person to be put to death in Oklahoma since the state resumed executions in October 2021, and is the second inmate to die by lethal injection in the state this year.

Scott Eizember, 61, convicted of killing an elderly couple in 2003, was executed in Oklahoma on January 12.