Sonia ‘Sunny’ Jacobs, a beacon of resilience and a tireless advocate for justice reform, passed away at the age of seventy-six in a tragic house fire in Glenmacmurrin, County Galway, Ireland, today June 3, 2025. Also perishing in the blaze was Kevin Kelly, her carer. Her partner Peter Pringle, who I also knew, died in 2023.
Born in New York in 1949, Sunny’s life took a harrowing turn in 1976 when she, her partner Jesse Tafero, and their two young children were involved in a fatal incident at a Florida rest stop. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper and a Canadian police officer were killed, leading to Sunny and Jesse’s wrongful convictions for murder. Despite another man, Walter Rhodes, later confessing to the crime, Sunny spent 17 years in prison, including five years on death row in solitary confinement. She was exonerated in 1992, two years after Jesse was executed.
Sunny worked closely with the Innocence Project which I founded in Ireland and Europe, and with related organisations across the globe. Despite her increasing immobility she was a forceful presence anywhere she went and very obviously a sunflower child. It was like meeting Gaia, at Woodstock.
She was the sotto voce poster girl of the Innocence Project always shunning the limelight even when documentaries were made about her. Her partner Peter Pringle was more bullish. He had been himself one of the last people to be sentenced to death in Ireland before capital punishment was abolished in 1990. His conviction for the murder of two gardaí was quashed in 1995 after he had served 15 years in prison.
In her memoir, ‘Stolen Time’, Sunny recounted her experiences with searing clarity. Reflecting on her time in solitary confinement, she wrote:
“In a world of one, I am alone, more alone than I have ever been in my life. Locked up in a box within a box where no one can enter, and I cannot leave. I am to await my death.”
But even in the depths of despair, she found a spiritual freedom no prison could take.
“Hopelessness just did not appeal to me… they can keep me here but what goes on within the confines of these walls is mine to create. They cannot imprison my soul!”.
After her release, Sunny dedicated her life to advocating against the death penalty and supporting exonerees. In 1998, she met Peter Pringle, an Irish man who had also been sentenced to death. Their shared experience forged a deep bond, and they married in 2012. Together, they founded The Sunny Centre, a sanctuary for exonerees to heal and rebuild their lives.
She participated in public education campaigns, mentored exonerees, and pushed for reforms to prevent future miscarriages of justice. Her story became emblematic at one level of the Innocence Project’s mission. As she once said, “Justice should be about truth. The truth set me free — and now I try to help others find their freedom too”. Sadly, I believe the Innocence Project has long since lost much of its moral bearing.
Sunny became a sought-after speaker, sharing her journey of injustice and redemption around the world. Even after Peter’s death in January 2023, she continued their mission with fierce determination. Sunny’s passion for justice led to the creation of the foundation that bears here name, The Sunny Center, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping those who have endured wrongful conviction
Sunny is survived by her two children, who were separated from her during her incarceration. Her life stands as a testament to the human capacity for resilience, forgiveness, and the relentless pursuit of truth.
In her own words:
“I had a choice to believe either in hope or hopelessness. And so, I chose to believe in hope rather than hopelessness. That one instant changed everything for me.”
She was a wonderful gentle spirit: a child of a more spiritual and finer age. Devoid of malice and hatred. I do not know what happened, but I am very glad that we in Ireland gave her a refuge of comfort and even joy in her last years.
