A piece of foam was missing from his shoe, similar to a piece found at the crime scene.īut it wasn’t circumstantial evidence that brought Ronald Cotton down.

But he said nothing, betrayed no emotion.Ĭotton’s actions and past hadn’t helped his case. Confronted by Thompson, his normal calm failed him. When Thompson picked him out of the lineup, everyone was sure they had the right man.Ĭotton is tall and handsome, with baby-smooth chocolate skin and a warm, engaging smile. Cotton had insisted that the relationship resulting in the assault charge was consensual and that he was being unfairly targeted by police because he liked to date white women. He had been arrested on first-degree burglary charges and had served 18 months in prison for attempted sexual assault. Local man, headed down the wrong road, had already been in trouble with the law. His name was Ronald Cotton and he was the same age as she. Then she looked directly into the expressionless face of the suspect. In court, she put her right hand on the Bible and swore to tell the truth. Each walked up and repeated the words, “Shut up or I’ll cut you.” Thompson picked number five. There was no one-way mirror to shield her. She picked out his photo.Ī week later, she sat across a table from six men holding numbered cards. Just hours after her ordeal, after a jaded doctor swabbed her for semen samples in a hospital, she sat in a police station with Detective Mike Gauldin, combing through photos, working up a composite.She picked out his eyebrows, his nose, his pencil-thin mustache. Police had never seen a victim so composed, so determined, so sure. And when her perfect world was ripped apart, the petite blonde with the dark, expressive eyes became something she could never have imagined. Jennifer Thompson was the perfect student, perfect daughter, perfect homecoming queen. Unfortunately, it was the wrong man.īURLINGTON, N.C. That powerful testimony sent a man to prison for 11 years. Associated Press When the worst happened, she fought back by memorizing her assailant’s face.

Picking cotton jennifer