Picking Cotton by David Graves Essay

AbstractThis story is rough deuce volume, two dupes of offensive. Two people that suffered from circumstance and comminuted distinguish. Ronald ilk and Jennifer Thompson are these two people. This story is approximately the way circumstantial enjoin convicts and the way deoxyribonucleic acid ex mavenrates.Ronald cotton and Jennifer Thompson are living the ultimate pitying story. It is nonpareil of error, recognizing it and being redeemed. Ronald cotton wool and Jennifer Thompson were living in Piedmont northwest Carolina during the crime. Anyone who has lived in that respect in the past twenty geezerhood k nows their names, only if probably non their entire story. In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was 22 when a man broke into her digest and raped her. As the man assaulted her, she studied and memorized his face, as well as his voice, and everything she could more than or less him. Jennifers intention was to survive, and when the assault was everywhere, she wanted to ramble him in prison house house for the rest of his emotional state for what he did to her. After Jennifer was treated for her injuries she helped the law of nature draw a involved sketch of the man who raped her.The jurisprudence Depart manpowert of Alamance County had never seen a victim so composed, so stubborn and so sure. Just a few hours aft(prenominal) her horrifying ordeal, aft(prenominal) the emotionless doctor swobbed her vagina for se custody samples at the hospital, Jennifer sat down at the police force station with Detective Mike Gauldin. The rootage comment I remember her making was that, Im divergence away to get this cat that did this to me. She tell, I excessivelyk the quantify to look at him. I volition be able to identify him if Im given an opportunity, Gauldin remembered her saying (Hansen, 2001). She began cockscomb through and through characterisations, trying to help come up with a composite of her rapist. The sketch went out, and tips st arted pouring in. One of those tips was around Ronald cotton plant. Three eld after the rape, Detective Gauldin call(a)ed Jennifer in to the police station to do a photo lineup.Detective Gauldin lay six photos down on the table. The Detective said that Jennifer did not immediately identify a photo from the photo lineup. She took her time and studied all(prenominal) picture carefully. I arsehole remember al virtually ruleing like I was at an SAT test. You know, where you start constrictive down your choices. You can discount A and B, Jennifer said. She splited out Ronald cotton fibers photo. cotton fiber interpret the newlys from his mothers boyfriend. He told me, Ron, the police are looking for you. And I said, For what? And he told me, For rape. And I said, I oasist committed such a crime like that, like said (Finkelstein, 2009). Ronald cotton gave Detective Gauldin a very detailed cypher of where he was, and who he was with that wickedness. As it turned out the e vincement that Ronald cotton wool had given to the Detective was false. He later factualized that he had gotten his weekends complex up. By this point it was too late.His honest mistake gave them more soil to think that he was lying, and if he was lying intimately his whereabouts on the night of the rape, what else was he lying about? The sidereal day he went back to the police station to clear his name, was August 1, 1984. He did not get the chance. He was arrested. Ronald cotton fiber was not going to get to leave. He was getting locked up, and days later he was put in a physical lineup. Im number five, like remembered. I was very scared, nervous. I was so nervous, I was trembling. I felt my body barely shaking (Finkelstein, 2009). A week later, Jennifer sat across a table from six men that were holding numbered cards. She picked No. 5. And with the words, Thats my rapist, Detective Gauldin, she variety showd others institution as well as her own forever.On August 1, 19 84, Ronald like was arrested for the rape that had been committed against Jennifer Thompson. In a week- dour running, the dialog box heard about cotton fibers faulty alibi, his clothing that matched Thompson description, and a piece of bubble found on her floor that seemed to come from one of his habilitates. And most powerful, they had heard from Jennifer Thompson. In chat up, when she was asked if she recognized her rapist, she had named Ronald Cotton. She called my name, pointed a flick. And thats all, thats all it takes, it seemed like, Cotton said, It felt like someone pushing a knife through me (Hansen, 2001). Her testimony was extremely powerful. Even Ronald Cotton could feel the gore feel with her. He himself even sympathized for her. In silent terror, he watched as the carcass labeled him a rapist. He was only 22 years old, and the beingness that he had foreseen and dreamed about, all his plans were over now for a crime he did not commit.The Prose vitiatedors t ry at rivulet was all circumstantial cause however they had an eyewitness, Jennifer Thompson. The Defense Team had Ronald Cottons alibi, which was supported by family members. They tried to allow the jury to hear the evidence about the second rape victim that night, but the jury was not allowed to hear that evidence, or to hear that the second victim failed to pick Cotton out of photos that the police had showed to her, as well as the police lineup. The prosecution based its case on several points and employ circumstantial evidence to obtain their conviction. These included photo identification by one of the victims, police lineup identification made by one of the victims, a flashlight in Cottons home resembled the one used by the assailant and rubber from Cottons tennis shoe was consistent with rubber found at one of the crime scenes. It took the jury just 40 minutes to reach a verdict abominable on all counts.He was directenced to life and 50 years. That was when Jennifer Th ompson realized the nicety system worked. Ronald Cotton was handcuffed, shackled, and taken to North Carolinas Central Prison. He was just 22 years old. You know they say grown men dont cry, but its a lie you know. I grabbed my pillow many times and hugged it, wishing I was hugging my mom, my dad, sister, brother. like it didnt break to be this way, said Ronald Cotton (Finkelstein, 2009). On Jan. 17, 1985, Ronald Cotton was sentenced to life in prison. Ronald Cotton was convicted by a jury of his peers of one count of rape and one count of burglary. As Ronald Cotton was assume off to prison he said, I say the loyalty will come to light and the Lord knows I am an innocent man. Someday, somewhere, the truth is going to come out in my case. term he was in prison, Cotton spent his days and nights writing letters to lawyers, newspapers, and to anyone who would listen to him.He would do anything to get a new trial. Ronald Cotton tried to deliberate what his father kept telling him which was, that someday justice would prevail. so it happened. One day as he watched a new bunco game being brought in, he had a strange feeling come over him. He wanted to know more about him, who he was, where he came from, so Cotton approached him. I said, Excuse me. You look familiar. Where are you from? He told Cotton, Im from Burlington. Cotton told him, I am too. I told him that, You winning of resembling the drawing of a suspect in a crime in which Im falsely imprisoned for. Did you commit this crime? And he told me, no, I did not, remembers Cotton (Finkelstein, 2009). Cotton beneathstood immediately why he felt the way he did upon seeing the man for the first time.He thought of the composite drawing when he saw the inmate. The inmates name was Bobby Poole, and he was serving consecutive life sentences for a serial of brutal rapes. He also started working in the prison kitchen too. The stewards were traffic me Poole instead of Cotton, Cotton said. People were constant ly mistaking the two men for each other. During many of the years he spent in prison, Cotton actually knew who the real rapist was. The two bore a touch physical resemblance to one another, and to the police sketch of Thompsons attacker. While in prison a fellow inmate heard Poole going around bragging to other inmates that Cotton was doing some of his time for a rape that he had committed. Eventually an inmate told Cotton that hed heard Bobby Poole admit to raping Jennifer Thompson and the other woman that night. Ronald Cotton was in prison for this rape, a rape that he was convicted of, and the rape that sentenced him to life positivistic lambert years, a rape that he did not commit.Ronald Cotton was full of rage. He was angry. Cotton hated Poole. He decided to make a stain out of a piece of metal. He was going to fine-tune him. Cotton told his dad of his plans and Cottons father begged him not to. Put your combine in God, his father said. If you kill Bobby Poole, then you r eally do get going behind these bars (Finkelstein, 2009).So Cotton eventually threw his blade away and his plans to kill Bobby Poole. Cottons attorney filed an good luck charm. On appeal, the North Carolina Supreme appeal overturned Cottons 1985 conviction because the second victim had picked another man out of the lineup. The trial court had not allowed this evidence to be heard by the jury. An appeals court had ruled in Cottons favor stating that evidence relating to the second victim should have been allowed in the first trial. Ronald Cotton had won himself a new trial, and his heart filled with hope. The new trial began in November 1987.Ronald Cotton was retried, this time for both rapes and burglaries, because the second victim had decided that now Cotton was her assailant. The witnesses would get a look at Bobby Poole, who was subpoenaed by Cottons lawyer. They would hear the evidence from prison informants, about him admitting to these two crimes. The informants would tell their compelling stories about the rapes that they had heard Poole so proudly boast about, the story that the public did not know. They would tell the story that the real rapist told them. Things the rapist would only have known. Cotton was excited, even confident, the trial began to look as though it was going his way. Finally, Cotton thought, he would be set free, he would be percipient, and finally everyone was going to see the truth. He was not the rapist. However he had forgotten the power of Jennifer Thompson. Back on the stand, Jennifer Thompson was as confident as ever. She looked instantaneously at Poole and then she looked directly at Cotton.He was fifteen feet away from her and he could still feel the hatred in her heart that she had for him. Ronald Cotton is the man who raped me, she told the jury. It was not Bobby Poole. The Prosecution and defense asked her, Are you sure? And confidently she said, Yes, Im sure. The second victim was less convincing, but she also poi nted to him, too. Cottons lawyers called Bobby Poole to the stand with Thompson sitting right there. It was the moment Cotton had been hoping for. They tried to motivate her memory, by allowing her to see him up close, by allowing her to hear his voice. It was Cottons last hope, but nothing she was too convinced that Cotton had raped her. So they tried to get him to break, but he did not. He denied the rapes and with that he sealed Ronald Cottons fate. An innocent man was living inside the shell of a convicted rapist. It was all over for Cotton. Cotton knew it he knew that he would be convicted. The court fell silent as Ronald Cotton was sentenced again.He was convicted of both rapes and two counts of burglary. This time an Alamance County Superior Court sentenced Cotton to two life sentences plus fifty-four years. Ronald Cotton was convicted twice by eyewitness testimony. Seven more years went by, and then everyone in Central Prison was riveted by a crowing news story the trial o f O.J. Simpson. Cottons big break came in 1995 while he was watching the O.J. Simpson trial on television. I would get my radio and put my earplugs in, and go outside, and sit in a corner, Cotton said. There, hed listen to the trial. He was intrigued by something hed never heard of DNA. The Attorneys and investigators kept talking about DNA evidence, something he had never heard of before. DNA was still in its infancy when he received his convictions and it was not used in his trial. He got an idea and he contacted his new attorneys. In 1994, the chief appellate protector had requested that two new lawyers take over Cottons defense.Richard Rosen, a professor at the University Of North Carolina School Of Law, agreed to diddle Cotton. He wrote to his new attorney, law professor Rich Rosen. Rosen warned him that there probably wasnt any evidence left to test, and if there was, DNA could cut both ways. Understand if the DNA comes back and shows that you did this crime, whatever legal issues we have dont make any bit of difference. Youre going to spend the rest of your life in prison, Rosen said. Cotton told him to go with it (Finkelstein, 2009). The lawyers filed a motion for appropriate relief on the grounds of inadequate appeal counsel. The lawyers also filed a motion for DNA testing that Cotton had been so adamant on getting. DNA testing was granted in October 1994. packed away on the shelves of the Burlington Police Department was 11-year-old evidence from the two rapes that night.In the spring of 1995, the Burlington Police Department turned over all evidence that contained the assailants semen for DNA testing. Luckily, Burlington Police Detective Gauldin had hold the biological material in the case, although there was no legal requirement for it to be maintained. Inside one of the rape kits was a fragment of a single sperm with viable DNA. The samples from one of the victims was too deteriorated to be conclusive, but the samples from the other victims v aginal swab and underwear were subjected to PCR based DNA testing. They were able to recover one critical sample of sperm from the rape kit that had been used to treat Jennifer Thompson 11 years earlier.The DNA sample showed no match to Cotton (Celizic, 2009). At the defenses request, the results were sent to the State Bureau of Investigations DNA database, containing the DNA patterns of convicted violent felons in the North Carolina prison system. The states database showed a match with the convict who had earlier confessed to the crime. There was lavish DNA in the sample to prove Cotton was innocent and Poole was crimey. Then, under questioning by Detective Gauldin, Poole confessed to both rapes. In May 1995 when the authorised DNA results were reported, the prosecution joined Rosen in a motion to retch all charges. Judge McLelland granted the motion. Cotton was officially cleared of all charges on June 30, 1995 and he was released from prison in July 1995. And just like that , Cotton was a free man. Cotton received a gubernatorial explain based on innocence the following month. In July 1995, the governor of North Carolina officially pardoned Cotton. Cotton had served 10.5 years of his sentence.Cotton began the difficult task of lineage a new life. When he was first released from prison 17 years ago, Cottons first job was with the DNA Company that conducted the tests that exonerated him. He now works for a company that makes insulation. Hes been married for 15 years and has a 14-year-old daughter. They live in a house paid for with restitution money from the state of North Carolina $10,000 for each of the 11 years he spent in prison. Jennifer Thompson has also travel on. She is married and has three children. She and Cotton talk often. He is an amazing humans being. He has been a real good teacher for me. He has helped me so much. Ron has taught me about forgiveness, and healing, and faith (Hansen, 2001). Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson are now fr iends.In fact, theyve create verbally a book together Picking Cotton A muniment of Injustice and Redemption. They sometimes travel together giving talks about the ways memory can deceive us, and they are working to change the way police conduct photo lineups (Connors, et al, 1998). They are also a testament to the power of the human spirit. When DNA evidence ultimately turn out that another man committed the rape and Cotton was freed, Thompson was consumed by guilt and shame. However, Cotton talks about in the book that they wrote together, that he had ample since forgiven her. I couldnt carry on serving my time in the prison system holding grudges and thinking about retaliating against a mortal that made an honest mistake. I had to proceed on in life regardless, he told Vieira (Hansen, 2001). When I found out that I was going to be released from prison I was shocked. I almost did not believe it. It was like a dream come true. I couldnt believe it, Cotton told Vieira.The warden of the penitentiary called me in his office and told me I was going home tomorrow. I told him, Please dont pull my leg, its already long enough. But it was true. I finally went home to be with my family and loved ones. The day I had prayed so hard for had finally come and it was not just in my dreams (Hansen, 2001). To jurors the point of the finger identifying a perpetrator is damaging evidence and mistakes can be made. However, now there is one type of evidence thats even more persuasive DNA.There have been 235 people exonerated by DNA in this country and now a stunning pattern has emerged more than three quarters of them were sent to prison at least in part because an eyewitness pointed a finger an eyewitness we now know was wrong (Torneo, 2009). Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and the man she mistakenly put in prison, Ronald Cotton is a tale about pain and redemption and the tricks that memory can play on people with the best of intentions. This can happen to anyone. And hopefully it does not happen to them, Cotton told Vieira (Hansen, 2001). One of the most amazing things that have come out of this injustice is the most unlikely of friendships. He was sentenced to life in prison for a rape he did not commit by a woman who he now calls his friend. The two of them are truly inspiring, and the two of them were both victims.ReferencesCelizic, M. (2009, March 10). She sent him to jail for rape now theyre friends. In NBCNEWS.com. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http//today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29613178/ns/today-today_news/t/she-sent-him-jail-rape-now-theyre-friends/ Connors, E., Lundregan, T., Miller, N., & McEwen, T. (1998). Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial. Institute for Psychological Therapies. 10. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http//www.iptforensics.com/ diary/volume10/j10_3_6_8.htm Finkelstein, S. (2009, July 12). Eyewitness How Accurate Is Visual Memory? In CBSNEWS. Retri eved November 28, 2012, from http//www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/06/60minutes/main4848039_page6.shtml?tag=contentMaincontentBody Hansen, M. (2001). forensic Science Scoping out eyewitness Ids (Masters thesis). April Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http//nersp.osg.ufl.edu/malavet/evidence/notes/thompson_cotton.htm Thompson-Cannino, J., Cotton, R., & Torneo, E. (2009). Picking Cotton Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption. New York, NY St. Martins Press. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http//www.pickingcottonbook.com/splash.html