Patrons & Sponsors

In addition to our key speakers, Sr Helen Prejean and Ray Krone, we have the support of some dedicated people who have spent many years working for justice on death row:

Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle

Both former death row prisoners, Sunny had served 17 years and Peter 15 before they each managed to get their convictions overturned on appeal.  Sunny and her first husband, Jesse Tafero, were both implicated in the shooting of two police officers in Florida in 1976.  Jesse was executed in 1990, despite significant ongoing doubt about his guilt.  It is widely believed that the evidence which exonerated Sunny could also have saved Jesse had he not been executed first.  Sunny's death row ordeal later became one of six stories told through the acclaimed play The Exonerated.  The play was also adapted for television with Susan Sarandon playing Sunny's part.  Peter's story also started with the death of two policemen - this time during a bank raid in Ballaghdereen, Ireland.  His conviction was finally quashed when evidence of his innocence was brought to light, including evidence that his 'confession' had been written before he'd even been interviewed.

The couple met at an Amnesty International event in Ireland in 1998.  They remained close after Sunny returned to the US and began dating six months later.  On 13 November 2011, the couple tied the knot at a ceremony in New York.  Their wedding was attended by Brooke Shields, Marlo Thomas and Amy Irving, who have previously played Sunny's part in The Exonerated.

Nick Trenticosta

Nicholas Trenticosta has actively worked to abolish the death penalty since 1980.  One of his early cases was Andrew Lee Jones, the young man in whose memory Amicus was founded.  Nick is now Director of the Center for Equal Justice, a not-for-profit law firm representing people facing the death penalty.  He and his wife and law partner, Susana Herrero, also staff the El Salvador Capital Assistance Project.  He has represented two clients in the US Supreme Court, including Curtis Kyles, an innocent man who was wrongfully convicted and freed from prison after thirteen years on death row.  Nick also represents Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, two of the 'Angola 3', in their challenges to their convictions for the murder of a prison guard in 1972.  He is an Adjunct Professor at the Loyola University School of Law and has lectured extensively at death penalty conferences and training programs across the US.

Alistair Carmichael MP

Initially working as a procurator fiscal depute in Scotland, Alistair Carmichael was first elected to Parliament in 2001, as MP for Orkney and Shetland.  After the formation of the coalition he was appointed as Deputy Government Chief Whip.  Prior to that Alistair was Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.  He campaigned for Kenny Richey, who spent 20 years on Ohio's death row before finally returning home to Scotland in 2008 and was also involved in the campaign for Troy Davis.  He visited Troy in 2009 with a delegation from Amnesty International and Richard Hughes from Keane.

We are also very grateful for the support of our sponsors:

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