5: Life After a Death Sentence
Sonia Jacobs and Peter Pringle are a husband and wife with a bond like no other. They both spent years on death row for crimes they didn’t commit - Sonia (aka Sunny) in the USA, and Peter more than 4,000 miles away in Ireland.
You could say it was fate that brought them together after being exonerated. However, Peter says it made perfect sense that they met and fell in love.
In 1976, Sunny was sent to death row for the murder of two police officers. She spent 17 years in confinement, away from her two children. In 1980, Peter was given the same sentence, for the murder of two police officers. After more than a decade each in jail, they both had their convictions overturned. Little did they know at the time, they would soon meet and spend the rest of their lives changing the futures of fellow exonerees.
They live in Galway, Ireland, and run The Sunny Center - a sanctuary for people recently freed from prison.
Read more about the foundation here: http://www.thesunnycenter.com/
Both Were Once on Death Row, Now They Share a Life Helping Others (article)
The Innocence Podcast is brought to you by The Manchester Innocence Project
Presenter/Researcher: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Lucy McDaid
Editor: Kris McConnachie
Executive Producer: Professor Claire McGourlay