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Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption, by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, Ronald Cotton, Erin Torneo
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The New York Times best selling true story of an unlikely friendship forged between a woman and the man she incorrectly identified as her rapist and sent to prison for 11 years.
Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment while she slept. She was able to escape, and eventually positively identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. Ronald insisted that she was mistaken-- but Jennifer's positive identification was the compelling evidence that put him behind bars.
After eleven years, Ronald was allowed to take a DNA test that proved his innocence. He was released, after serving more than a decade in prison for a crime he never committed. Two years later, Jennifer and Ronald met face to face-- and forged an unlikely friendship that changed both of their lives.
With Picking Cotton, Jennifer and Ronald tell in their own words the harrowing details of their tragedy, and challenge our ideas of memory and judgment while demonstrating the profound nature of human grace and the healing power of forgiveness.
- Sales Rank: #18273 in Books
- Published on: 2010-01-05
- Released on: 2010-01-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.29" h x .93" w x 5.52" l, .65 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
Review
“Few stories of wrongful convictions have happy endings, but the one told by Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino is far different. It is the powerful account of violence, rage, redemption, and, ultimately, forgiveness.” ―John Grisham
“The story of Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, as told in first-person voices in this gripping, well-written book, is exceptional.” ―St. Petersburg Times
“Even the most cynical reader will be impressed with Cotton's resilience and grace.” ―The Washington Post
“Picking Cotton is the nonfiction title you must not overlook this year. It is as compelling as any fiction, yet the truth at its core will move you to tears.” ―The Louisville Courier-Journal
“Picking Cotton is ultimately an uplifting story of hope.” ―The Charlotte Observer
“Few stories of wrongful convictions have happy endings, but the one told by Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Cannino is far different. It is the powerful account of violence, rage, redemption, and, ultimately, forgiveness.” ―John Grisham
“This book will break your heart and lift it up again...a touching and beautiful example of the power of faith and forgiveness. Its message of hope should reverberate far beyond the halls of justice.” ―Sr. Helen Prejean, csj, author of Dead Man Walking
“What happened in this book will change what you think of the criminal justice system in this country, and challenge you to help fix it. Each of them tells an extraordinary story about crime, punishment and exoneration, but it's their shared spiritual journey toward reconciliation and forgiveness that is even more compelling and profound.” ―Barry C. Scheck, Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Innocence Project®
“Few people have done more to put a human face on issues involving wrongful convictions than Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton. Yet through their shared pain, they have been able to forge a friendship that most of us search our lives for.” ―Janet Reno, Former U.S. Attorney General
“[A] remarkable testament...powerful...A MUST read.” ―Studs Terkel
About the Author
JENNIFER THOMPSON-CANNINO lives in North Carolina with her family. RONALD COTTON also lives with his wife and daughter North Carolina. ERIN TORNEO is a Los Angeles-based writer. She was a 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts Nonfiction Fellow. The authors received the 2008 Soros Justice Media Fellowship for this title.
From The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Kate Tuttle Nearly everyone in prison protests their innocence, but Ronald Cotton was telling the truth. Cotton was just 22 when he walked into a Burlington, N.C., police station to answer rape allegations; he spent the next 11 years seeking freedom. "Put a man in a cage with beasts and throw away the key, and it's usually not long before the man is a beast himself," he writes in this unusual joint memoir, written with his accuser and now friend, Jennifer Thompson-Cannino. Considering the odds stacked against him -- a bum alibi, a victim focused on being the strongest possible witness, a justice system all too willing to send another young black man to jail -- it's extraordinary that Cotton emerged from prison at all. More stunning still was his willingness, upon exoneration by DNA evidence, to forgive the people who had put him there, including rape victim Thompson-Cannino, whose erroneous identification of Cotton in a police line-up had begun his horrible odyssey. Their story, told here in alternating sections, emphasizes that both were victims. Still, as both acknowledge, Thompson-Cannino, traumatized as she was, spent the next decade in freedom, marrying and having kids, while Cotton endured prison. Left mostly unexamined is the role that race played in his incarceration, but even the most cynical reader will be impressed by Cotton's resilience and grace.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.
Most helpful customer reviews
84 of 94 people found the following review helpful.
A real eye opener
By Sam Sattler
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 - and that would be the beginning of a powerful, loving friendship between the two and their families that is still going strong.
Today Cotton and Thompson work together to bring attention to other inmates around the country who have been imprisoned under circumstances similar to those that placed Ronald Cotton in jeopardy of spending his whole life in a jail cell. Much good has come from the awful circumstances that have linked forever the lives of these two people, and Thompson and Cotton have both thanked God that Cotton is the one she chose that day in the Burlington police station if she was destined to get it wrong.
Read "Picking Cotton" to get the rest of the story - there's a lot more.
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
I'll Never Forget That Face
By Smoten
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.
33 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
In the eye of the beholder...
By lmj
Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton is the well told story of the two authors. Jennifer was a college student in 1984 when a knife-wielding man broke into her apartment and raped her. She works to remember her assailant so she can identify him. She identifies Ronald Cotton. Due to appeals, Jennifer is staunch in her identification of Cotton through a second trial after which Cotton is sentenced to Life Imprisonment plus 54 years. Because of the OJ Simpson murder trial, Cotton learns of a new test that may prove the innocence he has professed from the night he turned himself into the police "to straighten out this situation." The new test is DNA. After 11 years in prison, Cotton is exonerated through a combination of the DNA test results and the confession of the rapist. The story could have ended there, but does not. Cotton proves to be a true Christian in forgiving the woman he could have hated for the rest of her life. As profound as Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking. Two admirable people making the world more just.
Through the account, we understand Jennifer's anquish and sense of violation. From the beginning, Ron seems a remarkable person never bitter about his circumstances, but still missing parts of life many would take for granted such as birthdays, anniversaries, funerals.
A documentary for PBS is made about Cotton's case. At the end, he questions that Jennifer has never contacted him. When she does (after watching the documentary) she is surprised by his acceptance of her. Eventually, the two work together on other cases of injustice throughout the United States.
The book presents serious questions about the criminal justice system - especially the validity of eyewitnesses. No easy answers. Just two people now working together to change the world one case at a time.
On par with Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking.
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