Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs, an American woman who spent 17 years on death row for a crime she did not commit. She tragically perished in a fire at her home in nearby Casla, County Galway, when she was 78 years of age. Jacobs soon became an unexpected advocate for justice, accountability and a symbol of resilience. Though her life was filled with tremendous challenges, it was filled with amazing accomplishments and victories.
Jacobs was born in 1945, and she still lives in Toronto. By 1976, 28 years old, she was a hippy passing through Florida when a fatal accident left her in a wheelchair. At the time, she was at the Florida Turnpike highway rest stop with her boyfriend Jesse Tafero and acquaintance Walter Rhodes. Then, in a shocking turn, two police officers were shot and killed. Despite Jacobs’s claims of innocence, she was convicted and sentenced to death.
Jacobs was a passionate and committed mother, raising her two children—10-month-old Christina and nine-year-old Eric—during the height of these struggles. Within days, her life would take a harrowing turn. For five long years, she was subjected to the torture of a small, windowless cell on death row, held in solitary confinement. In 1981, the Florida Supreme Court spared her the death penalty by commuting her sentence to life in prison. The battle for justice wasn’t over yet.
In 1992 and after decades of fighting legal challenges, Jacobs was awarded a new trial. He took a plea agreement and was eventually released. In 1990, her boyfriend Jesse Tafero was executed. This tragic event propelled Jacobs to come to terms with the nuances of their shared narrative, as well as the profound absence of their life together.
After her release, Jacobs went on to be a tireless activist for justice reform. She established the Sunny Center Foundation, offering emotional support and practical resources for people who have been wrongfully convicted. Her remarkable journey did not go unnoticed. It inspired a play titled “The Exonerated,” which was performed in prestigious venues across New York, Edinburgh, and London. In 2005, her remarkable story was recreated on the big screen. It starred Academy Award nominated actors such as Mia Farrow and Susan Sarandon.
Jacobs’ grassroots advocacy work took her to Ireland in 1998, where she was invited to speak at an Amnesty International event. While there, she became acquainted with Peter Pringle, a Dubliner who similarly had been wrongfully convicted of the crime of murder. Their friendship deepened into love, and Jacobs married Pringle, making their home in Galway’s Irish-speaking Gaeltacht region.
Through the years, Sonia Jacobs always took the time to consider her experiences and how they shaped her life. She famously stated,
“Everyone gets challenged in life and you can either spend the rest of your life looking backwards or you can make a decision to keep going. That’s the choice I made.”
What her words so beautifully expressed was her strength and the refusal to be defined by anything that happened to her before.
Jacobs came to find her adopted home in Ireland to be a place of healing and grounding. She talked about how her connection to the land was produced, with the words,
“The stone in the west of Ireland makes me feel grounded; it anchors me.”
Her passion for social justice and her work fighting for the vulnerable and oppressed had a profound impact on everyone she encountered. After her passing, the Sunny Center Foundation honored her legacy with the statement:
“Fair winds and full sails on your crossing, Sunny. Your memory is a blessing to us.”