Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs, a tireless, compassionate champion who dedicated her life to the struggle against injustice and the death penalty, as well as helping fellow exonerees, died today in her Ireland home.
Sunny’s work has been celebrated across the world, but her roots in the abolitionist movement began in Florida. In 1976, she and Jesse Tafero, the father of her youngest child, were sentenced to death for the murders of two law enforcement officers in Broward county. Their convictions rested primarily on the testimony of Walter Norman Rhodes, who was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Sunny’s jury recommended life in prison, however the judge overrode their recommendation and gave her a death sentence.
When Sunny went to prison, her son was 9. Her daughter was only 10 months old and still nursing.
In 1981, the Florida Supreme Court found that the Broward County State Attorney had improperly withheld exculpatory evidence during discovery in her case and finding that the judge did not have the authority to override the jury’s determination. With this, Sunny’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison and her 5 years of solitary confinement on Florida’s death row came to an end.
Jesse was executed on May 4, 1990. While he sat in Florida’s electric chair, officials had to interrupt the execution three times because flames and smoke shot out of his head. He continued to move and breathe throughout the 15-minute ordeal.
In 1992, The Broward County State Attorney offered to release Sunny if she entered a plea in which she did not admit guilt. Having now spent 17 years in prison for a crime she was wrongfully convicted of, she took the plea. When she was released in October 1992, her son was married with a child of his own and her daughter was a 17-year-old stranger.
Sunny met Peter Pringle, an Irish death row exoneree, in 1998 at an Amnesty International event.. She moved to Ireland to be with Peter, and in 2011, they had an official marriage ceremony in New York.
For more than twenty years, Sunny and Peter traveled continually between the United States and Europe, giving presentations at universities and other organizations about their experiences with the justice system and their support of death penalty abolition. They gave seminars about the benefits of the spiritual aspects of healing, learning to forgive, and moving beyond blame.
Understanding the trauma caused by wrongful conviction, the couple began welcoming exonerees into their home in 2012. In 2014, they created the Sunny Center, a non-profit that assisted exonerees with reintegration and readjustment to life outside of prison. Together, they opened the Sunny Healing Center in Ireland and the Sunny Living Center in Tampa, as well as expanded their organization’s services to aid the famiy and friends of those wrongfully convicted. This work continued after Peter’s death in 2022, and the Sunny Living Center has served as home to several of Florida’s death row exonerees, including FADP board member Clemente Aguirre.
“Peter and I were both wrongly convicted and sentenced to death. Separately, we found that healing and forgiveness were the keys to a happy life afterwards. Now, through our foundation we are able to share our happiness and healing with many others.” – Sunny Jacobs
Sunny’s legacy is felt across the entire abolitionist movement. Now, more than ever, the Sunny Center needs your support to continue Sunny and Peter’s work. Please consider making a donation today so that the Sunny Living Center can continue to “assist exonerees to be able to reintegrate into society and live a happy, healthy life.”
Let us carry on Sunny’s dream. Onward.
FADP Team
P.S. Florida has two executions scheduled for this month. Take action now for Anthony Wainwright (June 10) and Tommy Gudinas (June 24).