Picking Cotton (282 Pages)

The title of this book will fool you! This is a memoir written from two points of view with the help of Erin Torneo, the third writer. Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton both are able to tell this story during which the reader finds her reactions and concerns shifting from Jennifer to Ronald, to Jennifer to Ronald. Jennifer was a senior at Elon College in North Carolina. She was an A student, had a boy friend who she was planing on marrying, and looked forward to her graduation. Then she awoke one night in her off campus apartment, to a man holding a knife to her throat as he proceeded to rape her. Asked to come to the police station to view a lineup, she proceeded to identify Ron Cotton as the rapist. He was then sentenced to life in prison. All of this occurred shortly after the O.J. Simpson case. Eventually Ron was represented by lawyers who believed his innocence and were able to prove it using DNA as evidence. However, Ron had spent eleven years in jail for a crime he never committed. And then there is a surprising turn to the story. Ron forgives Jennifer, and they both become a team giving talks about the fallacy of memory and eye-witness testimony. This is a book with much room for class discussion, and may be one you'd like to consider for an all-class reading.