Ohio Parole Board to hear Sheldon Jackson’s bid for parole Oct. 18
The Ohio Parole Board has scheduled a full board hearing on Wednesday regarding inmate Sheldon Jackson’s release on parole, which this office strongly opposes.
Morrow, Chief of Criminal Division and Project Director of the Prosecutor’s Office new Repeat Violent Offender Unit, will be arguing the state’s and victim’s case against any release of Jackson on parole at the full board hearing in Columbus which starts at 11 a.m.
Investigator / Public Information Officer Guy M. Vogrin and Victim/Witness Advocate Mary Jo Hoso will also attend that meeting with Morrow.
What happened in the case?
Briefly to summarize the case, Jackson repeatedly struck 78-year-old Theodore Emerson with a screwdriver during the 1993 home invasion, beating and kicking the victim, which ultimately led to his death.
Jackson and his two co-defendants had forced their way into the Jefferson Street SW home in Warren, knocked Emerson down stairs, where Jackson and another man followed Theodore into the basement and severely beat him. A third man went upstairs and beat and stabbed 74-year-old Kathryn Emerson. Some personal items and $46 in cash were stolen during the home Invasion. Mrs. Emerson was hospitalized a little less than two weeks in critical condition. After the home invasion, she moved out of her house to Pennsylvania, where she died. Mrs. Emerson was unable to testify because of her injuries.
On that same day prior to the home invasion, Jackson and his two co-defendants had attacked another couple on the street, robbing them of money. The three assailants were later seen on a porch across the street from where the home invasion occurred , eating McDonald’s food and drinking beer, presumably paid for with money stolen during the attacks.
Jackson pleaded guilty before a three-judge panel to charges of aggravated murder with aggravating circumstances, attempted aggravated murder, burglary, aggravated robbery and robbery. He has served 29 years and three months of a potential life sentence.
Jackson’s horrific attack on an elderly couple eerily mirrors other dual, senior victim cases in Trumbull County’s past. Recently, Charles Lorraine, who was on Death Row, died in prison.
Lorraine was found guilty of the 1986 cold-blooded capital murders of Raymond Montgomery, 77, and his bedridden 80-year-old wife Doris inside their Haymaker Avenue NW, Warren home.
Sentences were different in similar cases
Most Trumbull County residents remember the 1988 attack of George and Kathyrn Melnick inside their southeast side Warren home. George was brutally murdered while Kathryn received permanent injuries at the hands of Andre “Flip” Williams and Christopher Daniel. Williams is on death row, while Daniel was sentenced to a term of 37 years to life in prison and was recently denied parole by the state board.
These killers of helpless elderly homeowners in the commission of robberies and burglaries wherein the crimes reflect the actions of heartless domestic terrorists, in our opinion undercurrent law and parole guidelines, justify their continued incarceration (or death penalty application) because of the “unique factors” in these cases.
Therefore it is our hope that Sheldon Jackson and co-defendant Warren Cromety (at his scheduled September 2026 parole hearing) will be imprisoned for the rest of their lives. The denials of their paroles will insure the continued public safety by foreclosing any possibility of having Sheldon Jackson and/or Warren Cromety being allowed to inflict any unnecessary harm on innocent citizens freely.
Public comments about this case can be forwarded to the Ohio Adult Parole Authority, via their website https://drc.ohio.gov/systems-and-services/1-parole/parole-board-hearing-input.