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Authors of "Picking Cotton" Speak At UK

Hundreds of students piled into the University of Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum for this year’s Common Reading Experience lecture.

The event featured two speakers, Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton, whose circumstances are discussed in this year’s Common Reading Experience book, Picking Cotton.  Thompson described how she was raped in 1984 and mistakenly identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker in eyewitness testimony.  Cotton then detailed how he spent 11 years in prison trying to prove his innocence, his 1995 exoneration by DNA evidence, and how he met up with Thompson.  Since that meeting, the two have reconciled and become activists for criminal justice reform. 

Some students said the lecture provided a better perspective on the book’s events.  Others, such as senior Kevin Bloomfield, said the book could have gone into more depth on some issues.  

“There’s this issue of misidentification of criminals in the justice system, but there’s also juvenile delinquents.  You make one small mistake, you get tricked into making a plea deal, and suddenly the rest of your life goes downhill.  I think it’s really important to think about other issues that lead to this,” he said.

Nevertheless, overall reception was positive.  More information on Picking Cotton, as well as an in-depth interview with Jennifer Thompson, can be found in the latest episode of Bookmarks.

Chase Cavanaugh first got on the air as a volunteer reader for Central Kentucky Radio Eye, a local news service for the visually impaired. He began reporting for WUKY in February 2012, after receiving his Master’s degree from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.
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