Stolen Time

by SunnyJacobs (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.49

  Sunny Jacobs was only twenty-seven years old when she and her partner, Jesse Tafero, were wrongly sentenced to death by the Florida courts for the murder of two state policmen in 1976. Hidden evidence, falsified testimonies, inconclusive polygraph tests and a seemingly wanton corruption within the judicial system meant that the real murderer successfully testified against two innocents, who left behind an eight-year-old child and a ten-month-old baby. Despite the murderer, Walter Rhodes, subsequently recanting his testimony and confessing to the murder on three separate occasions, Sunny spent five years in solitary confinement on Death Row before her sentence was eventually reduced to life imprisonment, while Jesse was brutally executed via a thirteen-minute ordeal in the electric chair. Finally, after seventeen years of legal wrangling both their sentences were quashed (Jesse's posthumously) and Sunny was given back her freedom, by which time her parents were dead and her children separated and in care. Yet in this book Sunny demonstrates the human capacity for resilience and generosity of spirit. Her focus is not on the horrors she endured but on the ways in which she triumphed

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $4.63

  'In a world of one, I am alone, more alone than I have ever been in my life.Locked up in a box within a box where no one can enter and I cannot leave. I am to await my death.' In 1976 a twenty-eight-year-old mother of two and her partner were wrongfully sentenced to death by the Florida courts for the murder of two police officers. Sunny Jacobs would not taste freedom again for seventeen years, by which time her two children were estranged, her parents were dead and her beloved partner, Jesse Tafero, had been executed. Sunny spent five years on death row in solitary confinement. In a cell the width of her arm-span, her only lifeline was the stream of letters between herself and Jesse, offering love and strength, each echoing the other's conviction that the truth would soon be revealed. She refused to lose hope, even though the state had allowed falsified testimonies to condemn her and Jesse, disregarding hidden evidence and the true murderer's confession.Then in 1981 Sunny's sentence was reduced to life yet Jesse remained on death row, and Sunny lived under the constant shadow of his impending execution. But Sunny miraculously maintained her strength of heart, and fought on to prove their innocence - until in 1992 she was finally released, seventeen years after her ordeal began. But it was two years too late for Jesse, who had died in a horrible botched execution that caused outrage the world over. Sunny Jacobs' life has been layered with tragedy and yet her story, while delving into her darkest days, is a shining example of a woman's triumph over despair. Sunny's resilience, her unshakeable joy, and her astounding ability to forgive are beautifully depicted in this stunning and uplifting memoir.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $5.80

  'In a world of one, I am alone, more alone than I have ever been in my life. Locked up in a box within a box where no one can enter and I cannot leave. I am to await my death.' In 1976, a twenty-eight-year-old mother of two and her partner were wrongfully sentenced to death by the Florida courts for the murder of two police officers. Sunny Jacobs would not taste freedom again for seventeen years, by which time her two children were estranged, her parents were dead and her beloved partner, Jesse Tafero, had been executed. Sunny spent five years on death row in solitary confinement. In a cell the width of her arm-span, her only lifeline was the stream of impassioned, life-affirming letters between herself and Jesse, offering love and strength, each echoing the other's conviction that the truth would soon be revealed. She refused to lose hope, even though the state had allowed falsified testimonies and an inconclusive polygraph test to condemn her and Jesse, disregarding hidden evidence and the true murderer's confession. Then in 1981, Sunny's sentence was reduced to life, and she revelled in the unimaginable freedom of eating in the company of other prisoners, teaching yoga and forging new relationships. Yet, Jesse remained on death row, and Sunny lived under the constant shadow of his impending execution, while grieving for her parents, killed in a plane crash, and for her loss of contact with her children. But Sunny miraculously maintained her strength of heart, and fought on to prove their innocence - until in 1992 she was finally released, seventeen years after her ordeal began. But it was two years too late for Jesse, who had died in a horrible botched execution that caused outrage the world over. Sunny Jacobs' life has been layered with tragedy and yet her story, while delving into her darkest days, is a shining example of a woman's triumph over despair. Sunny's resilience, her unshakeable joy, and her astounding ability to forgive are beautifully depicted in this stunning and uplifting memoir.