Eyewitness Testimony Part 1 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01It's a cliche of courtroom dramas. That
2. 0:04moment when the eyewitness is asked, "Do
3. 0:07you see the person who committed the
4. 0:08crime here in this courtroom before
5. 0:10you?" Well, it happens in real
6. 0:12courtrooms all the time. And to jurors,
7. 0:15that point of the finger by a confident
8. 0:18witness is about as damning as evidence
9. 0:20can get. But there is one type of
10. 0:22evidence that's even more persuasive,
11. 0:25and that of course is DNA. There have
12. 0:28been 233 people exonerated by DNA in
13. 0:31this country. And now a stunning pattern
14. 0:34has emerged. More than 3/4 of them were
15. 0:37sent to prison, at least in part,
16. 0:39because an eyewitness pointed a finger.
17. 0:42An eyewitness who we now know was wrong.
18. 0:49It was hot and humid in Burlington,
19. 0:51North Carolina on the night of July
20. 0:5328th, 1984.
21. 0:57Jennifer Thompson, then a 22-year-old
22. 0:59college student, had gone to bed early
23. 1:02in her off-campus apartment. As she
24. 1:04slept, a man shattered the light bulb
25. 1:07near her back door, cut her phone line,
26. 1:10and broke in. I remember kind of waking
27. 1:13up and turning my head to the side and
28. 1:15saying, "Who's there? Who is it?" And I
29. 1:17saw the top of someone's head kind of
30. 1:20sliding beside my mattress. and I
31. 1:23screamed and I felt a blade go to my
32. 1:26throat. A knife. A knife. And he told me
33. 1:28to shut up or he was gonna kill me. Her
34. 1:30first thought was to offer him anything
35. 1:33she had to go away. You can have my
36. 1:35credit card. You can have my wallet. You
37. 1:37can have anything in the apartment. You
38. 1:39can have my car. And he looked at me and
39. 1:41said, "I don't want your money." And I
40. 1:44knew what was getting ready to happen.
41. 1:46She vowed to stay alert and study him so
42. 1:49that if she lived, she could help put
43. 1:52him away forever. What is his voice?
44. 1:55Does he have an accent? Does he have a
45. 1:57scar? Is there a tattoo? He's raping you
46. 2:00and you're studying his face. And it was
47. 2:02just trying to pay attention to a detail
48. 2:05that if I survived, and that was my
49. 2:07plan, um, I'd be able to help the police
50. 2:10catch him. After about half an hour,
51. 2:12Jennifer tricked the rapist into letting
52. 2:14her get up and fix him a drink, and she
53. 2:17ran out the back door. He fled and raped
54. 2:20a second woman half a mile away.
55. 2:23Detective Mike Golden Jennifer at the
56. 2:26hospital. The first comment I remember
57. 2:28her making was that, "I'm going to get
58. 2:30this guy that did this to me." She said,
59. 2:32"I took the time to look at him. I will
60. 2:36be able to identify him if I'm given an
61. 2:38opportunity." Detective Galden worked
62. 2:40with Jennifer to make a composite
63. 2:42sketch, pouring over eyes, noses, ears,
64. 2:45lips, trying to recreate the face she
65. 2:48had seen that night. The sketch went out
66. 2:50and tips started coming in. One of those
67. 2:53tips was about a young man named Ronald
68. 2:56Cotton who worked at a restaurant near
69. 2:58the scene of both rapes and had a
70. 3:00record, a guilty plea to breaking and
71. 3:03entering and as a teenager to sexual
72. 3:06assault. Three days after the rape, Mike
73. 3:09Alden called Jennifer in to do a photo
74. 3:12lineup. He laid these six pictures down
75. 3:14on the table, said the perpetrator may
76. 3:17or may not be one of them, and told her
77. 3:20to take her time. Does she say
78. 3:23immediately that's him? No. She studied
79. 3:27each photograph. I can remember almost
80. 3:30feeling like I was at an SAT test. You
81. 3:33know, when you start narrowing down your
82. 3:34choices, you can discount A and B. Oh,
83. 3:37like multiple choice. Exactly. According
84. 3:39to the police report, Jennifer studied
85. 3:41the pictures for 5 minutes. She picked
86. 3:43up Ron's photograph and said, "That's
87. 3:46the man who raped me." And you must have
88. 3:47said, "Are you sure?" And she said,
89. 3:49"Yes." Yeah. Oh, yes. Certainly. Ronald
90. 3:51Cotton heard the news from his mother's
91. 3:54boyfriend. He told me, he said, "Ron,"
92. 3:55he said, "Polo police are looking for
93. 3:57you." And I said, "For what?" He told
94. 4:00me, "For rape?" I said, "Man, I didn't
95. 4:02commit such a crime like that." Did you
96. 4:04panic? I didn't panic. trying to figure
97. 4:06out, you know, why he comes in and gives
98. 4:09me a very detailed uh account of where
99. 4:12he was, who he was with that night. As
100. 4:15it turns out, u that was a false alibi.
101. 4:19I realized later that I had got my
102. 4:21weekends confused and so therefore I
103. 4:24gave him the reason to think that I was
104. 4:26lying. This was August 1st, 1984, right?
105. 4:29You go in to clear yourself. When did
106. 4:32you actually leave? I didn't
107. 4:35He was locked up and days later put in a
108. 4:39physical lineup. I'm number five. You
109. 4:42scared? I was very scared. Nervous. I
110. 4:44was so nervous. I was trembling. You
111. 4:46know, I felt my body just shaking. They
112. 4:49were asked to step forward, speak, and
113. 4:52step back. I can remember looking to the
114. 4:55detective and saying, "It's between four
115. 4:57and five. Can I have them do it again?"
116. 4:59And then she knew it was number five,
117. 5:02Ronald Cotton. Did you feel absolutely
118. 5:04certain? Absolutely certain. Did anybody
119. 5:07say to you, "Good job." Well, what was
120. 5:08said to me afterwards was, "That's the
121. 5:11same person you picked out in the photo
122. 5:13lineup." So, in my mind, I thought,
123. 5:17"Bingo.
124. 5:18I did it right. I did it right." In a
125. 5:22week-long trial, the jury heard about
126. 5:24Ronald Cotton's faulty alibi, his
127. 5:27clothing that matched Jennifer's
128. 5:29description, and a piece of foam found
129. 5:32on her floor that seemed to come from
130. 5:34one of his shoes. And most powerfully,
131. 5:37they heard from Jennifer. When they ask
132. 5:39you, "Do you recognize the man who did
133. 5:42this to you?" Did you point to him? It
134. 5:45was Ron Cotton. It was Ronald Cotton.
135. 5:47She called me ain't point a finger. And
136. 5:50that's all that's all it takes. It
137. 5:52seemed like What did that feel like? It
138. 5:54felt like someone pushing a knife
139. 5:56through me. It took the jury just 40
140. 5:59minutes. The verdict, guilty on all
141. 6:02counts. He was sentenced to life in 50
142. 6:04years. And it was for me that moment
143. 6:08that you know the justice system works
144. 6:12because I am the victim and he's a
145. 6:14horrible person and he will never ever
146. 6:17be free again. Ronald Cotton was
147. 6:19handcuffed, shackled, and taken to North
148. 6:22Carolina's Central Prison. He was 22
149. 6:25years old. You know, they say grown men
150. 6:28and cry, but it's a lot. You know, I
151. 6:30grabbed my pillow many times and hugged
152. 6:31it, wishing I was hugging my mom, my
153. 6:34dad, sister, brother. I wish it didn't
154. 6:35have to be this way.
155. 6:39He started working in the prison
156. 6:41kitchen, singing in the choir and
157. 6:43writing letter after letter to his
158. 6:45attorneys, hoping to get a new trial.
159. 6:49Then one day, as he watched a new inmate
160. 6:52being brought in, he had a strange
161. 6:55feeling. I said, "Excuse me." I said,
162. 6:56"Uh, I said, "You look familiar." I
163. 6:58said, "Where you from?" He said, "I'm
164. 7:00from Burlington." I said, "I am too." I
165. 7:01said, "You kind of resemble the drawing
166. 7:03of a suspect in a crime of which I'm
167. 7:05false in prison for. Did you commit this
168. 7:06crime?" And he told me no, he did not.
169. 7:08Wait a sec. You saw him and thought of
170. 7:11that composite drawing. Mhm. His name
171. 7:14was Bobby Pool and he was in for rape.
172. 7:18He started working in the prison
173. 7:20kitchen, too. And the stewards were
174. 7:21calling me Pool instead of Cotton. They
175. 7:24were calling you by his name? Yes. In
176. 7:26other words, people were mistaking the
177. 7:27two of you. Yes. Exactly.
178. 7:30Then a fellow inmate told him that he'd
179. 7:32heard Bobby P admit to raping Jennifer
180. 7:35and the other woman that night. Ronald
181. 7:38Cotton won a new trial and his lawyers
182. 7:41call Bobby Pool to the stand with
183. 7:43Jennifer sitting right there. It was the
184. 7:46moment Ronald Cotton had been hoping
185. 7:48for. Bobby Pool is in the courtroom. You
186. 7:52look over there. What happens inside
187. 7:54you? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. As a
188. 7:58matter of fact, the strongest emotion I
189. 8:00felt was anger at the defense because I
190. 8:04thought, "How dare you? How dare you
191. 8:06question me? How dare you try to paint
192. 8:08me as someone who could possibly have
193. 8:11forgotten what my rapist looked like? I
194. 8:14mean, the one person you would never
195. 8:15forget.
196. 8:17How dare you?" Ronald Cotton was
197. 8:19convicted again, this time given two
198. 8:22life sentences.
199. 8:24Back in prison 7 years later, he and
200. 8:27everyone else was riveted by a big news
201. 8:29story. The trial of OJ Simpson. I would
202. 8:32get my radio, put my earplugs, and go
203. 8:34outside, sit in a corner, and listen to
204. 8:37the trial. Yes. He was intrigued by
205. 8:40something he had never heard of, DNA. He
206. 8:43wrote to his new attorney, law professor
207. 8:46Rich Rosen. Rosen warned him that there
208. 8:48probably wasn't any evidence left to
209. 8:50test and if there was DNA could cut both
210. 8:54ways. Understand if the DNA comes back
211. 8:59and shows that you did this crime.
212. 9:03Whatever legal issues we have don't make
213. 9:05any bit of difference. You're going to
214. 9:06spend the rest of your life in prison.
215. 9:08He warned you. Mhm. That if it comes up
216. 9:11positive, you're sunk. I told him to put
217. 9:13his foot down and go with it. Packed
218. 9:15away on the shelves of the Burlington
219. 9:17Police Department was 10-year-old
220. 9:19evidence from the two rapes that night.
221. 9:22Inside one of the rape kits was a
222. 9:24fragment of a single sperm with viable
223. 9:27DNA. It proved what Ronald Cotton had
224. 9:30been saying all along. He was innocent
225. 9:33and the rapist was Bobby Pool.
226. 9:39Within days, Ronald Cotton was back in
227. 9:41court. You are walking out here today as
228. 9:44free man this time to be released.
229. 9:49So not only do you find out that Ron
230. 9:52didn't do the crime, you find out Bobby
231. 9:54P did. It was just utter shock really
232. 9:57disbelief. I mean, um, by this time,
233. 10:01this is 11 years later, and
234. 10:05you know, I know that, um, I've been
235. 10:08involved in a case of the man's lost 11
236. 10:10years of his life, and, uh, I just, I
237. 10:14was so sad for him and his family. In
238. 10:16the years since Ronald Cotton's
239. 10:17conviction, Jennifer had married and had
240. 10:20children. Are you the one that tells
241. 10:21her? Yes. Her reaction, no, it can't be
242. 10:24true. It's not possible. You know, I
243. 10:27know Ronald Cotton raped me. There's no
244. 10:29question in my mind. It was like someone
245. 10:31had just taken my life and like turned
246. 10:33it upside down. She cried. Oh, she
247. 10:35cried. She broke down. I mean, she took
248. 10:38it all on herself. You know, the guilt,
249. 10:42you know, I did this to man. Shame.
250. 10:46Shame. Terrible shame. Suffocating
251. 10:50debilitating shame. But when she thought
252. 10:53or dreamed about that night, it was
253. 10:56still Ronald Cotton's face she saw. To
254. 10:59get past it, she asked if he would meet
255. 11:02with her at a local church. I remember
256. 11:04him walking into the church and I
257. 11:07physically could not stand up. She was
258. 11:10nervous, scared. I started to cry
259. 11:13immediately. And I looked at him and I
260. 11:17said, "Ron, if I spent every second of
261. 11:20every minute, every hour for the rest of
262. 11:22my life telling you how sorry I am, it
263. 11:25wouldn't come close to how my heart
264. 11:26feels. I'm so sorry." And Ronald just
265. 11:30leaned down. He took my hands. Oh gosh.
266. 11:32And he looked at me. He said, "I forgive
267. 11:34you." I told her, I said, "Jennifer,
268. 11:38I forgive you.
269. 11:40I don't want you to look over your
270. 11:42shoulder that I just want us to be happy
271. 11:45and move on in life. The minute he
272. 11:47forgave me, it's like my heart
273. 11:50physically started to heal.
274. 11:54And I thought, this is what grace and
275. 11:57mercy is all about. This is what they
276. 11:59teach you in church that none of us ever
277. 12:01get. And here was this man that I had
278. 12:04hated with. I mean, I used to pray every
279. 12:07day of my life
280. 12:09during those 11 years that he would die,
281. 12:12that he would be raped in prison and
282. 12:14someone would kill him in prison. That
283. 12:17was my prayer to God. And here was this
284. 12:20man who with grace and mercy just
285. 12:24forgave me. That is overwhelming. It's
286. 12:28overwhelming how wrong I was and how
287. 12:31good he is.
288. 12:34How is it that Jennifer could have
289. 12:35studied her rapist so carefully and
290. 12:38still made this mistake? And how could
291. 12:40she have failed to recognize Bobby Pool,
292. 12:42the actual rapist, when he sat right in
293. 12:45front of her in the courtroom 3 years
294. 12:47later? That part of the story when we
295. 12:50come back.