Photos by Brett Mountain

Clemency Project 2014, she was already
an experienced criminal defense attor-
ney in state courts. After some training,
she was ready to help a federal prisoner.
Clemency Project 2014 sent her the files
on a local man, Samuel Grooms.
Grooms met all the guidelines for
clemency. He is a model prisoner, never
in trouble with prison authorities. His
crimes were all non-violent drug cases.
He was not a power in organized crime.
He had served more than a decade of his
endless sentence. His confederates had
received much lighter sentences.
Prison email does not have the pro-
tection of attorney-client confidential-
ity, but, apart from a few phone calls,
Sharon and Grooms kept in touch by
email anyway. They did not mind who
read the correspondence, which largely
focused on his potential support system.
They needed to identify the friends and
family who wanted to offer Grooms a
place to live and employment.
“It was important to demonstrate that
he had family ties,” Sharon said. “He
also has a friend, a business-owner, who
wants Mr. Grooms to work for him.”
Every time President Obama issued
a list of prisoners to receive clemency,
without Samuel Grooms’ name, Sharon
sent Grooms an encouraging email,
expressing her confidence that he would
be granted clemency.
Asked for a comment on his clemency
for this story, Grooms sent this email:
“Now, when I heard about my clem-
ency from my attorney, Alona Sharon, it
was great news. Because she just seems
like a real down-to-earth person, I felt
like she was God-sent. I have had some
bad experience with attorneys in the
past, with me getting a life sentence. I
knew that God would rescue me.”
Months after Grooms applied for help
with his request for clemency, he says,
“I got some legal mail from Ms. Sharon,
and then I got a legal call from her. I

started feeling so relaxed; I went back
to my cell and started meditating and
thinking about the conversation we just
had, and thought that God is going to
bless me with the clemency.
“Then, months later, she called me
again to give me the news. It was a
feeling I would never forget in my life.
It was like God had used her to resur-
rect me, and I feel like she is one of
my guardian angels. Thank you, Ms.
Sharon, for returning me back to my
family and giving me another chance
at life.
“God bless you and your family,
Samuel.”

HOMEGROWN DEFENDER
Alona Sharon really qualifies as a
grassroots local attorney. Her education
started at Akiva Hebrew Day School in
Southfield. When she graduated from
Akiva, she got her undergraduate degree
from the University of Michigan and her
law degree from Wayne State University.
Sharon, 37, grew up in Southfield.
She started law school at WSU without
a precise idea about what she would
do as a lawyer. “Probably make a lot of
money,” she now jokes.
In her second year, though, she
studied criminal procedure with Dave
Moran and fell in love with crimi-
nal defense. (Moran now heads the
Innocence Project at U-M.) He thought
she could succeed at the work because
she “has a knack for arguing.” Moran
recommended she work with a mentor,
local attorney Robyn Frankel. Frankel
remained her friend and guide as
Sharon graduated from law school and
established her own practice.
Sharon met her husband, Mark Jeross,
at the Jewish Community Center in
Oak Park “when I made a very pathetic
attempt at flirting with him by the free
weights. He was too cute to ignore.”
The couple are members of

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December 1 • 2016

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