In a 5 to 4 vote, members of the Ohio Parole Board voted to grant 52-year-old Sheldon Jackson, who was convicted of aggravated murder in the 1993 murder of an elderly man during a home invasion in Warren.

Jackson will be released on parole on December 18th, 2023, after which he plans to work at a Warren barbershop following his time as a barber in the Grafton Correctional Institution. A public defender representing Jackson says he has a long-term goal of trying to teach barbering skills.

Representatives from the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office had gone to Columbus Wednesday to lobby members of the Ohio parole board to keep Emerson in prison.

Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow asked the board to deny a parole request from Jackson, who has been serving a life sentence in prison since 1994 for his part in the murder of Theodore Emerson and injuring of his wife, Kathryn.

Morrow, Chief of Criminal Division and Project Director of the Prosecutor’s Office's new Repeat Violent Offender Unit, says that on August 30, 1993, Jackson, then 22 years old, and two other men invaded the Jefferson Street SW home of  78-year-old Theodore and 74-year-old Kathryn Emerson.

Theodore Emerson died after he was repeatedly struck with a screwdriver, then beaten and kicked in the basement of his home.

Kathryn Emerson was stabbed and severely beaten.

Investigators say the trio left the home with some of Emerson’s personal belongings and $46 in cash.

The three men were later spotted on a porch across the street from where the home invasion occurred, eating McDonald’s hamburgers and drinking beer, which prosecutors believe was paid for with money stolen during the attacks.

Jackson pleaded guilty 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.

In addition to wanting to keep Jackson behind bars, the prosecutor expressed hope that his co-defendant Warren Cromety will be denied parole when he goes before parole authorities in September 2026.

A media statement from the prosecutor’s office characterizes those convicted of attacking the elderly victims as “heartless domestic terrorists” who should remain imprisoned.

A third man arrested for the crimes, Carvin Clemmons, has completed his sentence.

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.