US death row inmate among participants in Galway play

A former death row inmate in the US is among participants in a play to be performed in Galway on Sunday.

Instances of wrongful imprisonment and the hardship of direct provision in this State are among issues to be highlighted during the one-off theatrical performance.

The play, The Exonerated, written by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen, is due to be performed in Galway's Town Hall Theatre by a group led by North American "death row" inmate Sunny Jacobs, whose partner was executed before she was released in a plea deal, and her Irish husband, Peter Pringle. Pringle had his death sentence commuted and a conviction quashed but spent 15 years in prison.

He had been one of three men sentenced for the murder of two gardaí, Detective John Morley and Garda Henry Byrne, in Co Roscommon in 1980. His conviction was quashed in 1995, and a hearing into his case against the State was deferred again this week until January 31st, 2018.

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Jacobs and Pringle and a group of actors aim to raise funds for the Sunny Centre, which they founded in 2015 in Connemara as a sanctuary and place of healing for people who are exonerated after wrongful conviction.

They have campaigned regularly against the death penalty globally, and they also believe the direct provision system for asylum seekers here poses unnecessary hardship.

The play, which was performed previously in New York and had one production in Dublin seven years ago, also involves actors Lara Campbell, Lelia Campbell, Cormac Culkeen, Sharon Murphy, Bernard McNamara, Iback Lidamlendo, Donald Uviase, Son Gyoh, Orla McGovern and Darragh O'Brian.

It takes place in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, November 19th, at 3pm.