Second Trial Of Ronald Cotton V.

In July of 1984, in Alamance County in North Carolina, an assailant broke into the victim’s – Jennifer Thompson-Cannino – apartment and attacked and raped her. Later on that same night, the same assailant broke into another apartment, attacked and raped a second woman. Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, was a 22-year-old college student at the time. She had never met the defendant, Ronald Cotton, until she picked him out of a line-up as her attacker and rapist. Ronald Cotton was initially convicted based only on the victim identifying him as her attacker. There was no evidence or a rape kit that was done to prove that he was the one that sexually assaulted her. There were no other eyewitness accounts to the fact. The victim picked him out of a line-up

In January of 1985, he was convicted by a jury of one count of rape and one count of burglary. In a second trial in 1987, he was convicted of both rapes and two counts of burglary. Cotton’s alibi was supported by family members. During the trial, the jury was not allowed to hear evidence that the second victim failed to pick Cotton out of either a photo array or a police lineup. The prosecution based on its case on the points that a photo identification was made by one of the victims. A police lineup identification was made by one of the victims. The flashlight that resembled the one used by the real assailant and the rubber from his shoe being consistent with the rubber found at one of the crime

The samples from one victim were too deteriorated to be conclusive, but the samples from the other victim’s vaginal swab and underwear were subjected to PCR based DNA testing and it showed no match to Richard Cotton. At the request of the defense, the results were sent to the State Bureau of Investigation’s DNA database, containing the DNA patterns of convicted felons in North Carolina prisons. The DNA proved to be a match for the convict who earlier confessed that he was the one who actually committed the