Ronald Cotton

Alamance County, NC

Ronald Cotton

July 28, 1984 (Burlington)

Ronald Cotton was convicted of raping Jennifer Thompson in 1985. The crime occurred in Thompson's apartment in Burlington, NC. The rape was almost identical to another rape committed immediately after Thompson's rape, but the other victim, Elizabeth Watson, had picked a different man out of a police lineup. Cotton was also excluded as the source of blood found on the door through which Watson's assailant entered. Later, the NC Supreme Court overturned Cotton's conviction because the trial judge refused to allow exculpatory evidence from the Watson rape.

While serving time in Central Prison, Cotton happened to meet a new inmate, Bobby Poole, who closely resembled a composite drawing that Thompson had made of her assailant. Poole also happened to be from Burlington and was serving time for rape. Cotton confronted Poole about the Thompson and Watson rapes, but Poole denied he was the assailant. However, another inmate soon reported that Poole had confessed to both rapes. Both Cotton and Poole worked in the prison kitchen and looked so similar that people there were mistaking the two by calling Cotton, "Poole."

In 1987, Cotton was retried for raping Thompson and tried the first time for raping Watson. Watson had belatedly decided that Cotton was her assailant. At the retrial, the judge refused to allow evidence that an inmate had heard Poole confess to the rapes. Poole's blood type matched the blood spot found in Watson's case, but when Poole was called as a witness, he denied both rapes. Thompson also told the jury, “Bobby Poole didn't rape me. Ronald Cotton did.”

Cotton was convicted of both rapes, but in 1995, DNA tests showed that Poole had committed the Thompson rape. The biological material preserved from the Watson rape was too degraded to test. However, under questioning, Poole confessed to both rapes. The NC Governor subsequently pardoned Cotton. Cotton and Thompson have since become friends. The two appeared on a 60 Minutes episode about the case and on a consecutive episode about the fallibility of eyewitness identification. They also have jointly authored a book entitled Picking Cotton. (60 Minutes) (Frontline) (CWC) (IP) (CBJ) [3/09]