Jennifer Thompson-CanninoBesprekingen

While the book may not be the most well written, it is very thought provoking and emotional. Jennifer's chapters sometimes seemed a bit disconnected from herself. I am sure that this was due to the nature of the material. I found myself hurting for both Jennifer and Ronald, as well as some of their family members. I cannot imagine what either of them went through.

Jennifer was raped while in college. She identifies her attacker as Ronald Cotton. Ronald is sent to prison maintaining his innocence. After 11 years DNA in a case that occurred the same night, in the same neighborhood, is sent to the lab to link Ronald Cotton to that case comes back as someone else's. Ronald's case is eventually dismissed and he is released from prison. Jennifer and Ronald join forces and speak about the injustices to be sure this not happen to others.

Read in about 2012 - Amazing story of Winston-Salem native, Jennifer Thompson, who was raped while student at Elon College. She helped convict teenager Ronald Cotton who, many years later, met another prisoner who bragged about being the rapist. Once exonerated and released, Ronald and Jennifer have devoted incredible time to traveling the nation and shedding light on how the criminal justice system has a myriad of faults.

There is a lot of racism in this book, both institutional and individual. It’s very good and explores a lot of complexities in the legal system. It is frustrating at times to listen to racism from someone who should know better, but other than that it’s a good read.

5657. Picking Cotton Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption, by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton with Erin Torneo (read 3 Nov 2019) This is a moving and fantastic book. It is a book co-authored by the victim of a brutal rape in North Carolina and the man she mistakenly identified as the rapist--at two separate trials. That man, Ronald Cotton, is the co-author (with help from Erin Torneo) of the book. Because of the false identification Cotton served 11 years in prison before DNA evidence showed he did not commit the rape. Then, after two years, Thompson and Cotton met and eventually became friends, and have appeared often at meetings to tell the story. I found the book incredibly moving and tear-jerking. The story is told, alternately, by the victim and the accused. The account of the rape by the victim is intensely filled with hate for the man she believed was the rapist. The trial was in the 1980's. If it had been earlier the accused would have been sentenced to death. The account of Cotton's time in prison is full of interest How fortunate that the United States Supreme Court had found that the death sentence could not be imposed for rape--else the innocent man might well have been killed by the State,. This is a searing book and very instructive on the doubtful value of eye-witness testimony.

I finished this yesterday and will be giving it 4 stars. It was pretty eye-opening about the number of overturned convictions. It just seems like we could be doing a better job at setting the innoocent free. It takes money and obviously if you are in prison, you ddo not have access to the resources required to fight this battle. Once again, it appears that are justice systemm has some serious flaws.

Excellent dual memoir that shows very clearly how wrongful convictions can happen. It is amazing that a rape victim and the wrongfully convicted man accused of the rape are able to forgive one another and actually become friends after DNA evidence and the confession of the actual rapist exonerated him after spending 11 years in prison. Amazing story with a much needed lesson in how the justice system can fail sometimes.

Very good true story of Ronald Cotton being wrjongly accused of rape by co author Jennifer Torrino.

This review is for the audiobook version. 4 stars story - 4 stars narration.

The story was very moving. I struggled with Jennifer initially... I think it had more to do with the narrator and less to do with the story. I was a bit worried that something was wrong with me that I was having trouble connecting with her. I finally connected with her once I started hearing Ronald Cotton tell his story. I really, really connected with him and felt more for him.... I felt he was victimized more that Jennifer ever could be (That may be really terrible for me to say, but it's the truth). I felt the court system wronged him in so many ways, yet he was never bitter. He just kept proclaiming his innocence in hopes that someday it could be proven. 11 years is a long time to spend in jail for a crime you didn't commit.
Jennifer struggled a long time with overcoming a rape in her own home... then the guilt of putting the wrong man behind bars. She was finally able to forgive, be forgiven and then to move on in her life. She has since gone on to do wonderful things. I'm so happy that Ronald and Jennifer could forgive each other and even become great friends.

As for the narration.... I struggled with the female narrator. Some narrators do this "breathy hitch" in their voice that just sounds so very unnatural and becomes very prominent the more you listen to them. This narrator was like that... and to me she sounded very mechanical and monotone. So... it's why I think I had a hard time connecting. Thankfully the majority of the book was narrated by a male narrator that did an OUTSTANDING job. His narration was superb and brought tears to my eyes on a few occasions. He had a very deep, smooth voice that was bursting with emotion and I didn't want him to stop talking.

This review is for the audiobook version. 4 stars story - 4 stars narration.

The story was very moving. I struggled with Jennifer initially... I think it had more to do with the narrator and less to do with the story. I was a bit worried that something was wrong with me that I was having trouble connecting with her. I finally connected with her once I started hearing Ronald Cotton tell his story. I really, really connected with him and felt more for him.... I felt he was victimized more that Jennifer ever could be (That may be really terrible for me to say, but it's the truth). I felt the court system wronged him in so many ways, yet he was never bitter. He just kept proclaiming his innocence in hopes that someday it could be proven. 11 years is a long time to spend in jail for a crime you didn't commit.
Jennifer struggled a long time with overcoming a rape in her own home... then the guilt of putting the wrong man behind bars. She was finally able to forgive, be forgiven and then to move on in her life. She has since gone on to do wonderful things. I'm so happy that Ronald and Jennifer could forgive each other and even become great friends.

As for the narration.... I struggled with the female narrator. Some narrators do this "breathy hitch" in their voice that just sounds so very unnatural and becomes very prominent the more you listen to them. This narrator was like that... and to me she sounded very mechanical and monotone. So... it's why I think I had a hard time connecting. Thankfully the majority of the book was narrated by a male narrator that did an OUTSTANDING job. His narration was superb and brought tears to my eyes on a few occasions. He had a very deep, smooth voice that was bursting with emotion and I didn't want him to stop talking.

Picking Cotton begins from the point of view of a woman who is raped at knifepoint by a stranger who has broken into her apartment. She identifies her attacker from a police lineup and he is sentenced to life in prison. He swears he is innocent. After spending eleven years in prison he is exonerated on DNA evidence. The woman identified the wrong man.

I am really amazed by the authors of this book. Their emotional strength and capacity for forgiveness is unreal. The woman and the man she accused become friends and go on speaking tours together about issues surrounding the criminal justice system. To forgive someone who sent you to prison for eleven years is unreal. To have the courage to survive rape, deal with the guilt of accusing the wrong person, and ask his forgiveness is inspiring.

It is an amazing story but the writing is clumsy at times. I heard an interview with the authors on NPR and I like their speaking much better than the writing. Still a good read. 3.5 stars.

Despite a few spots where the narrative betrays more than ghostwriter's voice than those of the principal actors, this account of a rape, subsequent proceedings and eventual exoneration and reconciliation is well-told. The larger moral is that eye-witness testimony is extraordinarily unreliable, yet our criminal justice system often relies upon nothing more than accusing finger-pointing to damn defendants to imprisonment and even death. Sobering account, a must-read for anyone so simple as to believe that only the guilty wind up in prison.

True story. Jennifer was raped in her apartment as a college student. She memorizes her rapist's features, then picks him out of a lineup at the police station later in the week. She testifies at the trial that he really is the right guy…twice. And Ronald Cotton is incarcerated for her rape. But he is innocent. 11 years later, he is exonerated, and Jennifer is mortified that she picked the wrong person in the line up. The true rapist wasn't in the line-up, and her memory, along with non-verbal cues from the police, caused her to believe that Ronald was the criminal. Now the two do joint public speaking engagements, and help law enforcement change practices, so this doesn't happen again.½

Excellent book and a very different type of memoir regarding innocent prisoners and rape victims. Jennifer and Ronald seem to have a very unique relationship. I also found her take on the death of the man who actually raped her just mind-blowing! I don't think I would have been able to do that! Wish I'd known about this book sooner so I could have included it in an essay a few months back.

I am an attorney, and as an attorney you are taught to marshal the facts you have before you and organize them into a cogent argument for your position. That is what the prosecutor in this book did. However, this tunnel visioned manner of carrying out justice resulted in a man who was innocent being incarcerated for 11 years. This book is dually narrated by Ron Cotton, the man who was wrongfully incarcerated, and Jennifer Thompson, a woman who was raped and was certain that Cotton was the one who did this to her.
I was really moved to see how these two people built a friendship across a boundary that seems insurmountable. So often in life you become angry at someone who you feel has wronged you and come to a place where you think you can never forgive. It is quite a lesson to try to understand how Ron Cotton could forgive Jennifer Thompson for supplying the erroneous eye witness testimony.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the criminal justice system as well as anyone who is interested in developing their ability to forgive.

This one will make you think.

Community Reads book here in SE Michigan.

This is a compelling story about a rape, a wrongful conviction, correction and redemption. The writing is a bit choppy as the ghost writer was working with the words and memories of Jennifer and Ron as they remembered the events of the story.
It's an important story that needs to be related and discussed to help all of us understand the inherent limitations of our criminal justice system.

I’ll be blunt…

Picking Cotton should be required reading for everyone remotely connected with the justice system.
Picking Cotton should be required reading for everyone who has ever felt wronged.
Picking Cotton should be required reading for everyone who has ever felt remorse.
…or grief.
…or hate.
…or love.

~~~ Read the full review at www.robbflynn.com ~~~

http://www.robbflynn.com/?p=1463½

I thought i would like this book a bit more. The interesting part was when the main character, Ronald Cotton, was in jail trying to prove his innocence. Also, it isn't often when a victim and an accused rapist become friends after the accused rapist is proven innocent.½

Powerful, insightful, and shocking. Those are the three words I would choose to describe this story told by two very brave individuals. Jennifer: who suffered the horror of rape at the hands of a stranger who broke into her apartment. Ronald: who was unjustly accused of the crime and who had to endure years in prison, all the while knowing he was innocent. The narrative goes back and forth between Jennifer and Ronald and as each story was told I was kept spellbound. I listened to the book on CD and many times I didn't want to leave my car, I just wanted to keep listening as the two excellent narrators swept me into Ronald and Jennifer's story. I wanted to know how Jennifer was going to survive what happened to her, if she would ever find love and happiness, and how she would react when the truth came out. I wanted to know how Ronald could bear being falsely accused, how he could endure prison life (especially when he figured out that the real rapist was in the very same jail!) and of course just exactly how the truth would come out. What was more amazing was the story of the power of forgiveness, acceptance and faith that emerged as Ron helped Jennifer work through her emotions after having had years to process his own with the help of his family and his faith in God. Another interesting side-light is the way this book will challenge your perceptions of eye-witness testimony and our legal system. I highly recommend this book--give it a listen or read today!½

I read this book for my book club and though I don't think it is beautifully written, it is definitely a compelling story. Who doesn't like to read of wrongs being righted? Jennifer Thompson was positive that she had identified correctly the man who broke into her home and raped her. She confidently testified to his identity in court and aided in his conviction and ultimate life sentence. However, DNA testing 11 years later proved she was wrong and that the man she was so sure about, Ronald Cotton, was not the man who raped her. Told in alternating voices, this book tells the story of these two people and how they came in the end to be friends - mostly because Cotton forgave Thompson and told her he wanted her to be happy. She had to learn to forgive herself and they both had to figure out what to do next with their lives. A very interesting story.½

This is an EXCELLENT book. It is well-written and an amazing story of forgiveness and redemption. Amazing in every way.

When Jennifer is raped when sleeping in her college room, she is shattered, but she insists on cooperating with the police to put her rapist in jail. She is able to get a good description and identifies him in a line-up. but did "pick" the right man (his name was Ronald Cotton.

The rest of the book gives information about the decades that pass and how the invention of a new forensic test helps find the answer. There are alternating chapters from Jennifer and Ronald. You really understand what Jennifer went through, but you also understand Ronald's point of view. The book changed these two people and it will really make you think as well.

Although I already knew the basic facts of this story from TV coverage, I wanted to read the whole story. When a book group picked it for the June read, I had to join in.

********Minor Spoiler that you'll know anyway if you read the inside flap of the book *******
Jennifer Thompson was a young woman when a young black man broke into her apartment and raped her at knife point. As it was happening, Jennifer had the presence of mind to try to memorize her attacker's face so that she could identify him later. She picked Cotton out of photos and a line-up, and he spent eleven years in prison, claiming innocence. The only problem is that in picking Cotton, Jennifer picked the wrong guy.

This story is written from their separate viewpoints. Both were fascinating. Jennifer was urged to just get on with her life, and because she didn't fight the rapist, was made to feel it was her fault. Ronald had been in trouble before. Except for his family, everyone knew he was guilty.

More than just the stories of these two very different people, this is a tale of our justice system, and about the reliability of eyewitness testimony. While there is much right with our justice system, there is still much wrong. Of course, I am not naive enough to believe that every person who says he is innocent actually is, or even that many of them are. Still, I can't help but wonder how many innocent people have been executed in the name of justice because of mistakes made and preconceived notions of guilt. The book is thought provoking and well written, a very good read.