Stolen Time Movie Updates

Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs is in her 20s when she and her husband, Jesse Tafero, are convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1976 for the fatal shooting of two law enforcement officers based on the false testimony of the man who actually committed the murders. In 1981, the Florida Supreme Court commutes Jacobs' sentence to life in prison, after the chief witness in the trial recanted his testimony and admitted to the murders. Tafero did not benefit similarly from the recanted testimony and remained on death row until his botched execution by electrocution in May 1990. The couple maintains their relationship until his death, corresponding every day via prison letters. In 1992, nearly 17 years after her arrest, Jacobs' case is reversed on appeal and she is released on time served after taking an Alford plea for second-degree murder, in which she did not admit guilt. She goes on to found The Sunny Center, a sanctuary, providing exonerees with support and assisting them with overcoming the trauma, isolation and disconnection resulting from wrongful incarceration.