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Jul 4, 1999 · When Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs went to prison for murder in 1976, her son was 9. Her daughter, 10 months old, was still nursing. When she was freed in 1992, her son was married with a child of his own and her daughter was a 16-year-old stranger.
Sonia Jacobs at NU Law (Photo: Loren Santow) Jacobs was a 28-year-old 'vegetarian hippie' when she was arrested after a 1976 shootout in which two cops were killed. Her first husband was executed for the crime before a witness recanted.
Jacobs spent the next five years in solitary confinement, her vocal cords becoming atrophied because of non-use and denied even her photos of Eric, a son by her first marriage, and Tina, her baby by Tafero.
- The Murder and Kidnaping
- The Convictions and Sentencing
- The Appeals
- Jacobs' Death Sentence Vacated
- Tafero's Macabre Execution
- Case Data
After Black learned via radio that Rhodes had a criminal record, gunfire broke out. Black and Irwin were slain, and the group sped off in the Black's patrol car, driven by Rhodes. At a nearby apartment complex, Rhodes commandeered a car and kidnapped the man in it, Leonard Levinson. They were captured a little later when Rhodes lost control of the ...
The convictions of Jacobs and Tafero rested primarily on the testimony of Rhodes, who was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. In Jacobs' case, the prosecution also presented the testimony of a jailhouse informant, Brenda Isham, who claimed Jacobs had confessed. The trials were surroun...
In 1978, the Florida Supreme Court temporarily relinquished jurisdiction of Jacobs' case, directing Futch to hold a hearing on whether the Broward County State Attorney had improperly withheld exculpatory evidence during pretrial discovery, including reports stating that Rhodes had told a prison guard that he alone shot the officers and that he had...
In 1981, the Florida Supreme Court agreed that the discovery issues did not warrant a new trial, affirming Jacobs' conviction. However, the court commuted her sentence to life in prison, holding that Futch had lacked sufficient basis to override the jury's recommendation of a life sentence. Jacobs v. State, 396 So. 2d 713 (1981). Tafero was not so ...
Jacobs' petition for a writ of habeas corpus was still pending when, on May 4, 1990, Tafero was put to death in the Florida electric chair. Officials interrupted the execution three times because flames and smoke shot out of his head. During the first interruption, he continued to move and breathe. Shortly before the execution, filmmaker Micki Dick...
Jurisdiction: Broward County, Florida Date of crime: February 20, 1976 Date of arrest: February 20, 1976 Charge: First-degree murder of two police officers and kidnaping Sentence: Death for the murders, life for the kidnaping Release date: October 9, 1992 Months wrongfully incarcerated: 200 Date of birth: 1947 Age at time of arrest: 28 Defendant ra...
Tafero, his wife Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, their two children (ages 9 years and 10 months) and Walter Rhodes were found asleep inside. Tafero had previously been in prison and was on probation. Black saw a gun lying on the floor inside the car.
Nov 22, 2011 · Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, 64, and Peter Pringle, 73, both of whom were formerly on death row, pose after their Nov. 13 wedding. Twenty years ago, Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle were strangers,...
Feb 27, 2018 · Jacobs’ story, along with those of five other wrongfully convicted death row inmates, was featured in the play The Exonerated. In 2001, she married Peter Pringle, from Ireland who also survived death row after 15 years for the murder of a police officer.
