Pictures

Bobby Poole (left)  and Ronald Cotton (right)

Jennifer Thompson at age 22

Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson (present-day)

Book Update: Chapters 13-19

Beginning in chapter 13, Jennifer becomes the narrator again. Mike Gauldin and Rob Johnson returned to Jennifer's house in June of 1995 where they delivered the news that Ronald Cotton was, is, and always had been an innocent man. She realized that she had made a crucial mistake and she was speechless. This had to be a very rough moment for Jennifer because she had cost a man eleven years of his life, which had affected his whole families lives as well. She also believed that she was in danger, and that Ronald Cotton and his family would come after her. She had a reason to believe that since she did not know Cotton, but I knowing his personality I knew that he wouldn't try to "get even" with Jennifer Thompson. Ronald had began staying with his sister whom the family called Tudy. He and Rich Rosen had gotten the opportunity to appear on Larry King Live in 1995 to explain his story of being falsely accused. He received a job at LabCorp, which I thought would be very good for him to start on his own feet. One day, he saw Detective Lowe at work where he apologized, and said that Jennifer was also extremely sorry. He then decided that he wanted to meet Jennifer, and hear what she had to say to him. Then Cotton and Thompson both appeared on a documentary called "What Jennifer Saw," but they did not have contact while the film was created. Jennifer watched it and saw that Ron said he wished to meet Jennifer. She called Captain Gauldin and it was arranged for the two to meet and bring their spouses along with them. I was nervous at this point, because I didn't know how either of them would react. When they met, Jennifer sobbed and told Ron that she couldn't explain the sorrow that she felt in her heart, and asked if Ron could forgive her. Ron said that he wholeheartedly forgave her, and wanted each of them to be happy. This shocked me more than anything else, because Jennifer had taken away eleven years of his life that was spent behind bars, and he haven't know her for ten minutes and had already forgave her. The greatest thing about them meeting was that over the years, they became great friends and spoke over the phone regularly. They became increasingly close and even began to meet when they were in town, which was really great to hear. Overall, this story was a true and real example of how powerful the act of forgiveness can truly be.

Book Update: Chapters 7-12

To begin chapters 7-12, Ronald Cotton has already met the man who he believes committed the crimes that he is serving for his. His name is Bobby Leon Poole. This was very ironic to me, because it was strange that Poole had been sent to the same prison as Cotton, but wasn't for what he had actually done. One night, he had made a shank and had planned to kill Poole. However, it hit him that he had not committed the dirty crimes that he was accused of, and he hoped to see the outside again someday, so he got rid of his custom-made weapon. Poole was transferred shortly after, which had to of felt good to Cotton, since he didn't have to come face-to-face with Poole any longer. Cotton later on received a new trial in Alamance County. This trial was for the rape of Mary Reynolds, who picked Cotton, just as Jennifer Thompson did, as her attacker, 3 years after he had been imprisoned. This was not good for Cotton's hopes, since he was going to a case he hadn't been charged with yet. It worried me for Cotton that he was going back. Poole showed up at the trial, because a prisoner named Kenny had claimed that Poole had confessed to committing the crimes that Cotton was serving for. This didn't sound good to me, because Poole was going to deny everything and Thompson and Reynolds who still believe that Cotton was the assailant. He walked out with two life sentences plus one hundred eighty years in prison. Then a man named Richard Rosen had agreed to look further into Cotton's case. Eventually, they were to try DNA testing to prove his innocence. This was good news, because Cotton would be freed since he never committed any of the accused crimes. Meanwhile, Jennifer Thompson has a family now. A husband named Vinny and triplets. Detective Gauldin comes to her and asks her for a sample of blood for DNA testing, and she becomes furious because she cannot believe that a man that lost two trials could still be after her. However, she agreed to give her blood. Cotton was now in Kentucky as a new prison and recieved the news that he was 1) going back to court, and 2) that the man who committed the crimes had confessed. He was driven back to North Carolina to the district court in Graham, where is family was. The judge told Cotton that the charges against him had been dropped and that he was going to walk out of the courthouse as a free man. This was very relieving to finally recognize the fact that Poole was the criminal, and that Cotton was, and had always been a free man.

Book Update: Chapters 1-6

So far, I have read through chapter 6 of Picking Cotton. Jennifer Thompson is a college student at Elon College in Burlington, North Carolina. She is a straight-A student in college that rises well above the expectations in the classroom. She has many plans in life, which include graduating from Elon with a 4.0 GPA (Grade Point Average) and marrying her boyfriend. However, she wakes up to an intruder in her apartment one night. She is sexually assaulted and raped with a knife at her neck. However, she escaped and ran to her neighbors front door, where she was let in and away from the attacker. She was taken to the hospital and later on, the police department, where she was asked to put together her attacker on a black canvas. She is also brought in to the police station and asked to view six photographs of possible culprits. Then, a viewing is held to decide which of six men committed the crime, all from Jennifer's memory. The culprit she picked was a man by the name of Ronald Cotton, who was then taken to court and was proven guilty of first-degree rape, first-degree breaking and entering, and first-degree sexual assault. It then goes into Ronald's point-of-view where he described what happened the night the police came to search his mom's apartment. He was taken to the penitentiary where he eventually met a man named Bobby Poole, whom he thought looked very similar to the sketch of the suspect that Ron was locked up for. Ron persistently claimed that he didn't commit the crime to the police and everyone else. Through this point in the book, I feel very interested. I also feel grown and matured because of the adult-like nature of how the book is portrayed through each event. It is a very real situation that involves violence, revenge, and racism. It all interests me because it is a very real world situation that is non-fiction, which are my favorite readings. I am very anxious as well, to see how Jennifer continues to recover from this very traumatic experience.