Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

Having been blessed by the friendship of Jennifer Thompson Cannino for the past several years, I have known many details of this story of tragedy, courage and forgiveness in detail. I still find myself deeply affected each time I hear Jennifer speak or read an interview that she and Ronald have agreed to give together. So, as I began to read Picking Cotton I was prepared to read about what I thought I already knew, perhaps only in more legal detail. I was overcome by what I actually didn't know and the emotionally wrenching descriptions of the crime, the trial and the suffering imposed on both Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton by a completely inadequate system of eye witness identification. The first chapters confirmed my belief that injustice and thoughtless regulations established by the criminal justice and judicial systems can change forever the lives of both the victim and the accused. Being assured for 11 years that Ronald Cotton was her attacker "beyond a reasonable doubt" required Jennifer to make a place for that reality in her life and move toward healing her emotional wounds having only that name and that face to associate with her trauma. Eleven years is a very long time to be effected by the power of suggestion. To even give a passing thought to approaching this man whose life and opportunities had been locked away completely was the most powerful example of grace most of us will ever hear of. The kind and gentle spirit of Ronald Cotton could easily have been destroyed during incarceration for a crime that, for a time, only he, Bobby Poole and God knew he had not committed. The horrors of the prison system traumatize even the most dangerous criminals and could surely have destroyed Ronald Cotton. After his exoneration, what could possibly have been left of this man's sense of fairness......a sense strong enough to forgive his accuser simply because she felt the need to ask for it? What resulted from years of anger, fear, confusion, frustration and despair for both Jennifer and Ronald was a relationship that very few will ever experience in a lifetime. Using their own words, Erin Torneo weaves a story that connects the effects of the brutal crime on Jennifer and Ronald from the beginning and eloquently describes the differences in how they each survived those 11 years. This is an intimate and powerful look at the collateral effects of faulty identification and the suffering on both sides of the prison wall.

Crime victims often say that about their assailant and often they are wrong. Single witness identification cases are the bane of the criminal justice system and every year more and more innocent men are freed from prison by irrefutable scientific evidence that may not have been available at the time of their convictions. Well and good, but since the overwhelming majority of cases do not involve DNA, do not involve trace evidence of any kind, there is no way of knowing how many innocent people still languish in prison, put there on the strength of a single eyewitness, an honest person trying to get it right who nonetheless got it wrong with tragic consequences. Ronald Cotton did not rape Jennifer Thompson. She was sure he did-she would never forget that face-and two separate juries found her identification so compelling that Mr.Cotton was twice convicted and sentenced to life. He was exonerated by DNA after eleven long years in prison. "Picking Cotton", co-authored by both victims, is more than just another tale of a misfiring justice system. It is also a powerful story of grace and forgiveness. Not only has Mr. Cotton forgiven Ms. Thompson for her mistaken identification of him, but he has become her friend. He truly is a remarkable man. Ms. Thompson is also quite remarkable. She travels the country with Mr. Cotton, telling their story, and warning of the dangers of identification testimony. She has championed changes in identification procedures used by police to make them more fair and has seen such changes enacted in her home state of North Carolina, the scene of the crime. "Picking Cotton" is a cautionary tale that should be required reading in every police academy and law school in the country.

This book is fabulous. Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton are rare individuals indeed. Everyone should buy and read this book as an inspiration for their own life on how much better it is to admit mistakes--even bad ones--and how much forgiving others can enrich your own life.

"Picking Cotton" tells a story of Ronald Cotton's mis-identification and wrongful conviction for rape, and the follow-up crusade for reform that followed his exoneration by DNA evidence. Meanwhile, eleven years of his life were wasted in a North Carolina prison, and Ms. Thompson filled her days with hatred for him, even praying daily for his being raped himself and death in prison. It is tempting to categorize the book as "What happens when justice goes wrong," but it is much more than that - the book goes on to cover efforts to right the wrong with both the falsely convicted and the initial victim joining together to improve the justice system while becoming fast friends themselves. Amazingly, Cotton was stunned one day in prison to see a familiar face from where he had previously lived. Not only was the face familiar, but it also was similar to his own. Hearing that the individual confessed to Cotton's crime while in the same prison, Cotton pressed for a retrial. Again, he was wrongly identified as the culprit and convicted. Eventually, Cotton became aware of DNA testing, pressed for testing evidence from the rape, and was exonerated. Ms. Thompson, feeling extremely remorseful for her mis-identification that had convicted Cotton, asked to meet him. He forgave her, and they now work together to improve the state's system for identifying suspects. (Cotton also works at an insulation factory.) The unanswered question, of course, is "How many other Ronald Cottons are there wrongfully imprisoned, or worse?"

In 1984 a college student woke up in her Burlington, North Carolina, apartment to find a young black man in her bed who intended to rape her. Because Jennifer Thompson was about half the size of the man she faced, and was already pinned down by his weight by the time she awoke, she recognized that any physical defense she presented would only worsen her situation. Jennifer, however, was not prepared to give up that easily. As the man began raping her she made a conscious effort to study his face and everything about him so that she would be able to work as closely as possible with the police on his capture. She even talked him into interrupting the rape long enough for her to escape the apartment and run for help. Jennifer's attention to detail resulted in the well-executed police artist sketch that would lead to the quick arrest of Ronald Cotton, a local man, as the man who raped her and another woman on the same night. Cotton was not at all worried when his family told him the Burlington Police Department wanted to speak with him in connection with the two rapes. He knew he had a rock-solid alibi for the night in question, so he drove himself to the police station in order to prove that he had nothing to do with either crime. Unfortunately for Cotton, he got his dates mixed up, making his supposed alibi worthless, and he was charged with both rapes. The trial jury recognized Cotton's resemblance to the police sketch and considered Thompson to be an exceptional witness because of her decision to concentrate on her assailant even as the assault against her was happening. Her strong trial testimony, during which she appeared to be absolutely certain of Cotton's guilt, was all the jury needed to convict Cotton of her rape, and they quickly did just that. Eleven years later, in 1995, DNA testing would prove that Ronald Cotton had nothing to do with Jennifer Thompson's rape and he was freed from prison, a dream that Cotton had all but given up on ever seeing happen. Ronald Cotton, now in his early thirties and lucky to have survived more than a decade in prison, was back with his family hoping to start a new life for himself. Tragic as all of this is, it is far from being a unique story because, sadly, this kind of thing happens more than anyone in law enforcement would care to admit. Thousands of people have been imprisoned with no more evidence against them than the word of their accuser. Honest mistakes are made, lies are purposely told, and justice is not always blind. No, the truly remarkable part of this story is what happened next. Jennifer Thompson, married and the mother of triplets by the time of Cotton's release, feared that he would take his revenge by harming her or her children. Two years passed before the two of them finally came face-to-face but, when it did happen, both their lives were changed forever. Cotton, an extremely compassionate man, surprised Thompson by readily offering his forgiveness in their first conversation -