Reaction Paper : Picking Cotton

In the year of 1986 two women that lived in the same apartment complex were confronted by the same perpetrator. Both women were awoken by the man the allegedly entered their home raped them. Out of both the victims’ only one of them was able to identify Godschalk as the perpetrator, while the second victim of the crime was able to help the police in creating a compost sketch of the offender. The sketch was used to be broadcasted on television and placed on the local newspapers. On December 30 of 1986 the police department received a call informing them that Godschalk looked like the man that appeared on the sketch that was being broadcasted.

In her book “Picking Cotton,” Erin Torneo address problems that came across Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton like Eyewitness Testimony, the power of Forgiveness, and Race play in Justice System using Ethos, Logos, and Pathos to express credibility, trust, logic reason, proof, and emotion. Torneo states how these circumstances can be a problem because it can create a change in people’s life whether they’re good or not. She argues that Eyewitness Testimony can be inaccurate which can cause wrongful conviction just by looking through how Jennifer make a rash decision when she identify the culprit when her memory was being contaminated, which then lead her to send an innocence man to prison. According Elizabeth Loftus, she gives a demonstration

Steven Avery did not give up and tried to prove his innocence. He tried in 1995 with some evidence under Beersten’s fingernails. While it revealed that it matched an unknown assailant, it didn’t eliminate Avery (Weghorst & Warden). In 2002, an attorney from Wisconsin Innocence Project got a court order to analyze the pubic hair collected in the rape kit, which was submitted to be compare to FBI databases. The hair did not match Avery, but did match Gregory Allen, who also lived around the area (Davey, 2005). In an article written by Susan Smith, she described this revelation as a “Cold Hit” because neither the scientist nor the police were looking for Gregory Allen despise the fact that there were several factors that would make him a suspect (Smith, 2006). On September 11, 2003, this revelation also made a joint motion by Manitowoc District Attorney’s Office and the Wisconsin Innocence Project to dismiss all the charges against Avery. The motion was granted and Steven Avery was released (Possley).

In the video “The Confessions” presented by Frontline, a murder of a women that was committed by one man, quickly resulted into a false gang murder-rape scene committed by eight men. The victim, Michelle Bosko, was seen to be raped and killed in her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. From the video, it has been proven that seven out of the eight men that confessed were innocent, but somehow they all received an unequal punishment. Because the innocent men admitted to a murder that they didn’t commit out of fear, they were all sentenced to some time in prison. The head detective, Glenn Ford, intimidated the men so much that they either were convinced that they were at the crime scene or they told him every detail that he wanted to hear.

April 6, 1931, the trials for the Scottsboro boys begin(Uschan 16). The boys were represented by Milo C. Moody and Stephen Roddy who were only given twelve days to prepare for the trials. Stephen was and unpaid, unprepared real estate attorney, and Milo was a forgetful seventy year old local attorney who hadn’t tried a case in a long time (“San Marcos” line 13). The trails were completely unorganized and false information was stated throughout the whole thing. The cross examination of Victoria Price lasted minutes and the defense offered very little information to the judge. Six out of the nine boys ended up denying the rape while 3 admitted to it. Even though the three men didn’t rape the women, because of beatings and threats, they admitted to the gang rape. By the time the trail had ended 8 out of the 9 boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since one of the Scottsboro boys was only thirteen, he was considered too young to be tried as an adult (“UMKC” par. 6-7).

At approximately 5:28 p.m., I arrived on scene and was briefed by Officer Nicholson. I was provided with the name of the victim Amanda Holmes (white, female DOB 10/17/1982). Officer Nicholson advised me that the victim was last seen by her roommate at approximately 12:00 a.m. I then spoke to the roommate to obtain consent to process the residence.

Due to the interview taking place after hours and the case not being assigned until the following day, I was unable to be present at the time of the interview. However, I have since observed a copy of that interview. The following is a summary of the forensic interview conducted that night by Megan Merrill with Deja Jones. This is a summary, not an exact transcript.

It is hard to believe that after being falsely convicted and spent life in prison for eleven years, Cotton was still able to forgive. It also moved me how even though Cotton was in very deep and seemed like there was no way he would be proved not guilty; he never gave up. He continued to fight, he got new lawyers to help him prove his innocence. I was very happy to learn that even after all the trails and wrong conviction, Cotton was still able to forgive Thompson. I was also pleased that they wrote a book together and became close friends. I hope to read this book someday because this incident intrigued

14 year old Steven Truscott gave his classmate Lynne Harper a ride on his bicycle on June 9, 1959. Truscott had dropped her off before they parted ways. Lynne was reported missing later that night, and two days later, her body was found on a nearby farm. She was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. The community was horrified by what happened to this young girl and everyone was determined to find the killer. Immediately, investigators became fixated on Truscott as the prime suspect since he was the last person to see Lynne. They didn’t consider any other suspects, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. He was arrested 24 hours later, and stood trial as an adult. (Steven Truscott |

When it comes to critiquing how the identification information was obtained, several things are considered unreliable. The first mistake of the use of eyewitness testimonies in the Thompson & Cotton case was Jennifer was in a state of shock when identifying her assailant. Jennifer was in a deep slumber as a stranger at knifepoint awakened her causing adrenaline rush and high stress as she was fearing for her life. “My body was terrified although my mind hadn’t caught up yet” (Cannino et al. 12). This type of state of mind causes the brain to cloud its judgment when high stress occurs during the process of identifying a criminal. Although, Jennifer was able to study her attacker to the best ability possible, stress can alter the memory process clouding exact description especially held at knifepoint.

Miscarriages of justices occur due to many variables including faulty or wrong confessions, faulty identifications, wrongful DNA evidence, and the police’s overreach of power. On February 9, 1978, a student from the College of William and Mary, located in Williamsburg, Virginia was sexually assaulted at gunpoint. When the police arrived at the scene, she described her assailant as an African-American male about 5’6 in height and weighing around 145. Having gathered this information, the victim agreed to identify her assailant through photo arrays at the police station. Bennett Barbour was identified arrested and in the span of about two months was charged with rape on April 14, 1978. Despite having an alibi, not matching the victim’s description, and having brittle bone disease Barbour was declared guilty by a jury. Barbour’s case is representative of the many cases in which wrongful eyewitness testimony produces miscarriages of justice. Bennett Barbour served 5 years in prison and 29 years of parole until he was cleared of his charges due to DNA evidence when the Virginia Supreme Court cleared his charges.

In the summer of 1994 an Illinois woman’s buzzer rang at her apartment complex in Waukegan. She went downstairs to check after nobody went upstairs to her apartment. As soon as she reached the door downstairs, two men forced her into a dark colored sedan, kidnapped her, and raped her. Distraught after her attack, the victim wandered until she ultimately found a Seven Eleven close by and the police were called. When the police arrived, the victim said she was attacked by two Hispanic men that looked to be in their mid-twenties and a bit taller than her height of five feet and seven inches. The car that she was forced into was described as dark colored, older, having four doors and tinted windows. The victim’s boyfriend saw Angel Gonzalez’s car in the apartment complex parking lot and it matched the characteristics that the woman used to describe the assailant’s car. Police later stopped Gonzalez’s car and the victim acknowledged that the car was the one she described. She was then asked if Gonzalez was one of her attackers, and she was certain that he was, despite her being in the backseat of the police car while he was in front of it. Not only was he not close enough for her to get a clear view, but he also had facial hair and a birthmark, both characteristics that she did not use to describe her attackers. This led to Gonzalez being in police custody for interrogation where they did not allow him to sleep. When he was interrogated, he

On November 8, 2017, I attended the Made in Cotton talk with Los Angeles artist Mark Steven Greenfield, he discussed with the audience his humble beginnings and gave the audience a glimpse of his thought process when creating his art. Mr. Greenfield greets the audience and informs our small group that he received his bachelor degree from California State University, Long Beach; and talks about where he work in his time in Los Angeles. In addition, he elaborated about the time when he and his friends received a ticket for painting a mural on a wall, Crenshaw and 51st street due to the fact it was private property. In fact, he shared, how he

Ronald Cotton was exonerated in 1995 after spending 10 years in prison for crimes he did not commit. His convictions were mainly based on eye witness testimony, which ended up being false. In 1995 new evidence arose proving Cottons innocence and he was released from prison.

picked gets heated. My brother wants Mexican. My mom wants Thai and my dad wants Indian. “I want Chipotle. No we should go to Lotus Leaf. All of you have no taste. We should go to Bay Leaf.” The battle would be never ending if time didn’t exist. I don’t really care as long as the food is good. One restaurant that works for all of us is Green Mill. Looking at the ambiance, service and the food quality one can see that Green Mill is an awesome place to eat at.