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The Case of Sunny Jacobs - RE-RELEASE
📻 Episode #81
🎙️ Hosted by Jason Flom
📅 Jan 08, 2019
About This Episode
In 1976, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs was sentenced to death for the murders of Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip Black and Donald Irwin, a visiting Canadian constable. The officers were killed during a traffic stop where Sunny was traveling with her boyfriend, Jesse Tafero, and her two children, Eric, nine, and Christina, 10 months, in a…
The Case
In 1976, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs was sentenced to death for the murders of Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip Black and Donald Irwin, a visiting Canadian constable. The officers were killed during a traffic stop where Sunny was traveling with her boyfriend, Jesse Tafero, and her two children, Eric, nine, and Christina, 10 months, in a car driven by Walter Rhodes. After officers approached the vehicle, Rhodes fired shots at them, a gun battle ensued, and chaos erupted. Sunny and Jesse were arrested, and both of their children were taken away by the state. Rhodes negotiated a plea bargain with the state, claiming Jesse and Sunny had pulled the triggers, in exchange for a life sentence. In 1990, Jesse was executed by the state of Florida in horrific circumstances. Sunny spent five years in isolation on Florida’s death row and a total of 17 years in a maximum-security prison before her conviction was overturned. Sunny was freed in 1992 when she was 45 years old. In this episode, Jason talks with Sunny, her current husband, exoneree Peter Pringle, and her daughter Christina, who as a child was also a victim of this tragic injustice.
https://www.wrongfulconvictionpodcast.com/with-jason-flom
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:07:15“Speaker 3: it doesn't get much weirder than that. And now you've Speaker 3: got to take the kids at gunpoint and put him Speaker 3: in a police car, that's right. Speaker 2: And as he helped me out of the car with Speaker 2: the baby and with my son Eric, Eric slipped and”
00:29:45“Speaker 2: who paired up and then eventually married, give me the Speaker 2: use of a private investigator from some other CALLI in Speaker 2: who it paid for it for one day, and I Speaker 2: want to find the woman, the young woman who testified Speaker 2: against me in the trial, right, the one that we”
00:52:44“Speaker 2: at least I have integrity, Whereas if I were to Speaker 2: do that, no matter where you are, you have to Speaker 2: live with yourself. So I said, I'm sorry, I don't Speaker 2: need steak, Thank you very much. Take me back to prison. Speaker 3: They were dealing with so I.”
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← #80 Crystal Weimer - RE-RELEASE #82 Dusty Turner - RE-RELEASE →
Also on the podcast: #3 Sunny Jacobs · #72 Noura Jackson - RE-RELEASE · #80 Crystal Weimer - RE-RELEASE