Latest news with #Sonia'Sunny'Jacobs
Irish Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Man dies in early-morning house fire tragedy as gardai launch investigation
A man in his 80s has died after a fire broke out at a house in Co Westmeath in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Emergency services were called to the scene of the blaze at a property in the Gilbertstown area of Castlepollard at around 1am. Despite the best efforts of the medical personnel, a man in his 80s was pronounced dead at the scene. His body has been removed to the mortuary at Regional Hospital Mullingar where a post mortem examination is due to take place. Gardai have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the blaze, although it is understood foul play is not suspected at this time. A Garda spokesperson said in a statement to the Irish Mirror: "Gardaí are investigating the death of a man aged in his 80s following a fire that occurred at a residence in the Gilbertstown area of Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath at approximately 1am this morning, Wednesday, 4th of June 2025. "The man was pronounced deceased at the scene. His body was removed to the mortuary at Mullingar Mortuary where a post mortem examination is due to take place." The tragic incident comes a day after a man and woman were killed in a house fire in Co Galway. Florida death row survivor Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs, and a man in his 30s, understood to be her carer, were pronounced dead at the scene of the fatal fire at a bungalow at Gleann Mac Muireann near Casla in Connemara on Tuesday morning. It is understood the deceased were the only occupants of the house at the time the blaze broke out. Gardai and Fire Services were alerted to the fire at around 6.20am on Tuesday and brought it under control. The bodies of Ms Jacobs and the man in his 30s were recovered from inside the property. The scene remained preserved for a technical examination while both bodies have been transported to the mortuary at University Hospital Galway for post-mortem examinations. Anyone with information is asked to contact Clifden Garda Station on 095 22500, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Death row survivor wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years dies in horror house fire
A survivor of Florida's death row has tragically died in a house fire - Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs, who was wrongfully jailed for 17 years, died in a fire in Galway earlier this week A death row survivor who spent 17 years behind bars for a crime she didn't commit has tragically died in a house fire. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs was killed in Galway in the Republic of Ireland earlier this week, along with a man in his 30s understood to be her carer. They were both pronounced dead at the scene of the fatal fire at a bungalow at Gleann Mac Muireann near Casla in Connemara on Tuesday morning. The two are understood to have been the only people in the house at the time of the blaze. Police and Fire Services were alerted to the fire at around 6:20am on Tuesday and brought it under control. The bodies of Ms Jacobs and the man in his 30s were recovered from inside the property. Sunny spent nearly two decades on Florida's death row after she and her then partner were wrongfully sentenced to death by the Florida courts for the murder of two police men. A mother of two, Sunny spent 17 years behind bars for a crime she did not commit. Her passing was confirmed by the founder of Death Penalty Action in America Abraham J. Bonowitz. He told The Irish Mirror that he met Sunny a few months after she was freed following 17 years of wrongful incarceration in The Sunshine State. "I first met Sunny in 1993, just months after she was freed from 17 years of wrongful incarceration in Florida, including five years as the only woman on Florida's death row, after evidence of her innocence vacated her conviction,' Mr Bonowitz said in the statement. 'In the wake of injustice, Sunny used the remainder of her life to work to keep others from enduring wrongful incarceration, to help those freed from wrongful incarceration to heal, and to work to abolish the death penalty in the United States and worldwide.' He continued: "It was a great privilege to know Sunny, not only in the work that we shared, but as a true friend. One of my greatest honours was to be the person to drive her to visit the memorial to the victims of Flight 759, which crashed near the airport in New Orleans in 1982. We were together at the 2024 Annual Conference of The Innocence Network in New Orleans. It was the first time she was able to visit the site where her parents of blessed memory, Bella and Herbert Jacobs, died. Even in her old age, Sunny was constantly working to help others.' Sunny's late husband was Irish death row survivor Peter Pringle. They set up 'The Sunny Centre' to support people who had been victims of wrongful incarceration. The story of Sunny's plight was also told in books, plays and film, with her being played by Susan Sarandon in the TV film 'The Exonerated' in 2005. Director Micki Dickoff also put her career on hold for the 1996 film 'In the Blink of an Eye', with Mimi Rogers portraying Sunny. The film also told the story of her husband Jesse Tafero. Tafero died in 1990 during a brutal botched execution by electric chair that saw flames shoot out of his head. Mr Bonowitz added: 'Our last conversations were about how we can better assist such individuals in their latter years - particularly those who, like Sunny, received no compensation or even an official acknowledgement of their innocence.' He continued: 'My heart and prayers go out to her daughter, Christina, her son, Eric, to all who knew her personally, all who had the chance to hear her speak or know her story, and all who have been inspired by the example she set in how she lived and used her life to help others.'
Extra.ie
6 days ago
- General
- Extra.ie
Who is Sunny Jacobs? Tributes pour in for death row campaigner after tragic house fire
Tributes are pouring in following the tragic death of a Floridian woman who was on death row in the USA following a house fire in Galway. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs, 76, and a man in his 30s, understood to be her carer, died in the fire in Casla, a village in Connemara, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The bodies were recovered from the home and transferred to the mortuary at University Hospital, Galway. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs, 76, and man (30s) understood to be her carer died in the fire in Casla, a village in Connemara in the early hours of Tuesday (June 3) morning. Pic: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock A statement from An Garda Síochána appealed for witnesses to the tragedy as they confirmed the results of the post-mortems of Ms Jacobs and her carer would determine the course of the Garda investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact Clifden Garda Station on 095 22500, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station. Tributes are pouring in online for the 76-year-old who worked as a yoga teacher and had founded a charity to help those who had been in the same situation as herself. One person wrote: 'I am sad to share news of the passing of my dear friend, a true hero and a champion for justice, Sunny Jacobs.' Sinn Féin's Aoife Masterson added: 'I am so sorry to learn of the passing of Sunny Jacobs a powerful woman and tireless advocate for human rights. 'I got to know Sunny and her partner Peter through my work with the Innocence Project, in both Ireland and Ohio.' Ms Masterson added that one of the reasons she got involved in politics was 'because knowing and representing people like Sunny made me so acutely aware that justice can never be taken for granted.' Masterson added: 'Because the system fails too many people in too many ways. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs. Pic: Steve Meddle/REX/Shutterstock 'Sunny understood that more than most, more than any one person ever should.' Another friend of the late Sunny's added that at the age of nearly 77 years old, the American native still worked tirelessly and carried out daily international phone calls, Zoom meetings, talks, podcasts, media and events along with fundraising for the Sunny Foundation. 'She never stopped giving, and in all of this, she kept gratitude at the heart of her practice,' they shared, 'Always grateful for the beauty, for animals, for nature, for friendship for life.' Ms Jacobs is a Florida native who spent 17 years in prison in America after she was wrongfully accused of killing two police officers in 1976. She had been sentenced to the electric chair, but that was changed to a life sentence, which she was later exonerated from. The campaigner and her then-husband, Jesse Tafero, were wrongfully convicted after a man called Walter Rhodes shot and killed the police. Mr Tafero was executed, with a malfunction of the electric chair, meaning the wronged man spent more than 12 minutes awaiting his death. Rhodes later confessed to the murder of the two officers. Jacobs was released in 1992 after entering an Alford plea. This meant that while she didn't admit to the crime, she accepted an imposed sentence. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs and Peter Pringle in 2018. Pic: Collins Courts Following her time in prison, Ms Jacobs met her second husband, Peter Pringle. Pringle was also exonerated of murdering two Gardaí. He spent 15 years incarcerated before he was released in 1995. Jacobs and Pringle met in 1998 and bonded through their shared experiences of being wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. The pair wed in 2011, and in 2012 began welcoming exonerees into their home, which led to the founding of their charity organisation. The Sunny Centre was established in 2014 and was a place where the couple helped those who had been released from prison after being wrongfully convicted. The Connemara-based organization gives people who have been exonerated and released from prison help in dealing with the injustice of their wrongful convictions. In 2018, the couple opened The Sunny Living Centre in Florida, which was a housing complex in Tampa, Florida, for those who had been exonerated.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
House fire victims include former death row inmate
A US woman who spent years on death row for a crime she was later exonerated for was among two people found dead after a house fire in the Republic of Ireland. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs died alongside County Galway man Kevin Kelly after a blaze at a house in rural County Galway on Tuesday morning. Ms Jacobs, who was in her 70s, spent 17 years in prison in the US after she was accused of killing two police officers in Florida in 1976. She was sentenced to the electric chair but it was later commuted to a life sentence. On her release she campaigned against the death penalty. The house fire broke out at a rural house in Gleann Mhic Mhuireann, near the village of Casla in Connemara. Firefighters and gardaí (Irish police) were alerted to the blaze at about 06:20 local time on Tuesday. Photographs from the scene show a garda cordon blocking access to a property up a small county lane. The bodies of Ms Jacobs and Mr Kelly, who was in his early 30s, were recovered from the property by firefighters. Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported that the cause of the fire is under examination but at this stage foul play is not suspected. Ms Jacobs had been living in the Republic of Ireland for several years, having married an Irishman who was also wrongly convicted of a double murder. Her late husband, Peter Pringle, was also sentenced to death after being accused of murdering two police officers during a bank robbery in rural Ireland in 1980. He was one of the last people to be sentenced to death before capital punishment was abolished in the Republic of Ireland. Mr Pringle served almost 15 years in jail before being acquitted. The couple, who met while giving a talk about her death-row experience, later married in New York in 2011. They worked to help others who had been wrongfully convicted to adjust to life after release from prison, with Ms Jacobs running a retreat for ex-inmates. The couple took part in a BBC Radio Ulster documentary called Exonerated in 2017. Following Tuesday's fire, the bodies of Ms Jacobs and Mr Kelly were taken to University Hospital Galway for post-mortem examinations. GardaÍ have appealed for witnesses to the fire to contact them.
Irish Daily Mirror
03-06-2025
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tributes flow for death row survivor 'Sunny' Jacobs who died in Galway housefire
The founder of Death Penalty Action in America has paid tribute to Florida death row survivor Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs who tragically lost her life in a house fire in Galway. American-born 'Sunny', (76) and a man in his 30s, understood to be her carer, were pronounced dead at the scene of the fatal fire at a bungalow at Gleann Mac Muireann near Casla in Connamera on Tuesday morning. It is understood the deceased were the only occupants of the house at the time the blaze broke out. Gardai and Fire Services were alerted to the fire at around 6.20am on Tuesday and brought it under control. The bodies of Ms Jacobs and the man in his 30s were recovered from inside the property. In 1976 'Sunny' and her then partner were wrongfully sentenced to death by the Florida courts for the murder of two police men. 'Sunny' was only 28 years of age and the mother of two young children. She was freed after 17 years of wrongful incarceration in 1993. Now, in a statement issued to The Irish Mirror by Abraham J. Bonowitz, a founder of Death Penalty Action in the USA, said he first met 'Sunny' in 1993 - just months after she was freed from 17 years of wrongful incarceration in Florida. "I first met Sunny in 1993, just months after she was freed from 17 years of wrongful incarceration in Florida, including five years as the only woman on Florida's death row, after evidence of her innocence vacated her conviction,' Mr Bonowitz said in the statement. 'In the wake of injustice, Sunny used the remainder of her life to work to keep others from enduring wrongful incarceration, to help those freed from wrongful incarceration to heal, and to work to abolish the death penalty in the United States and worldwide. "It was a great privilege to know Sunny, not only in the work that we shared, but as a true friend. 'One of my greatest honours was to be the person to drive her to visit the memorial to the victims of Flight 759, which crashed near the airport in New Orleans in 1982. We were together at the 2024 Annual Conference of The Innocence Network in New Orleans. It was the first time she was able to visit the site where her parents of blessed memory, Bella and Herbert Jacobs, died. "Even in her old age, Sunny was constantly working to help others. 'She and her late husband, Irish death row survivor Peter Pringle established 'The Sunny Centre,' an organisation focused on supporting the needs of people freed from wrongful incarceration. 'Our last conversations were about how we can better assist such individuals in their latter years - particularly those who, like Sunny, received no compensation or even an official acknowledgement of their innocence." 'Books, films and stage plays have amplified the voice of Sunny Jacobs, who was a featured character in the play and movie, The Exonerated, originally produced by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. She was portrayed by Susan Sarandon, among many others. 'Sunny's story was first told in film when she was portrayed by Mimi Rogers in the film 'In the Blink of an Eye' directed by her childhood friend, Micki Dickoff, who put her career on hold to help prove Sunny's innocence and also that of her husband, Jesse Tafero. 'Sadly, Tafero's execution was famously botched in 1990 in Florida's electric chair. Sunny's book, Stolen Time: One Woman's Inspiring Story as an Innocent Condemned to Death. "Much more will be written and said about Sunny Jacobs. I have donated in her memory to 'The Sunny Centre' and I invite others to join me. 'My heart and prayers go out to her daughter, Christina, her son, Eric, to all who knew her personally, all who had the chance to hear her speak or know her story, and all who have been inspired by the example she set in how she lived and used her life to help others,' said Mr Bonowitz.
