New York Times Best-Selling Author to Appear at Pages

When Jennifer Thompson served as an eyewitness in the trial of a man, Ronald Cotton, accused of raping her at knife point, she had no ambition of becoming his friend, let alone co-authoring a book with him. But, 11 years later, when DNA evidence showed he was not the true culprit, their paths became forever entwined. Now Jennifer Thompson-Cannino is an advocate to improve a justice system she calls "broken," and she will appear at Pages tonight to discuss the book she wrote with Cotton as well as her advocacy movement.

Manhattan Beach Patch: Your story is obviously very emotional and moving. What made you want to put it into words?

Jennifer Thompson-Cannino: The idea to write a book came when Ronald and I met and became friends. We were offered many opportunities, and we made a decision together that we would not sell our life rights without the other person. We didn't want it to be a movie; we knew we'd do a book. Throughout the journey that we've been on, we wanted to write the book at the time that worked in our hearts and our guts; and, we wanted a time when our country was ready to hear the story.

MB Patch: What happened in society that made you believe it was the right time?

Thompson-Cannino: A part of it is the work that both of us have done in education and reform and advocacy. In the beginning, a lot of that was still yet to be lived, and there was a whole lot I wanted to do that would add value to our journey, why we've been on it and what it meant in the bigger picture. We were waiting for people to wake up to the fact that we've got innocent people in prison—and not just some, a lot! We have a wave of innocence, and I think people are ready to recognize the system is broken and failing.

MB Patch: Once you decided it was time, how did you set about writing it?

Thompson-Cannino: One of the things we didn't want to do is write it together in the same room. There was a whole lot about my story that I'd never told anybody, and I didn't want to feel reluctant with Ron in the room. And a lot of the story was personal to him, too, so we did it separately. On some levels, the book had already been written, because we had lived it together. It was just getting it down.

Ron would go to a waffle house, and he would begin to tell his story into a recorder. He's a story teller, so it was verbal. For me, I'd written a lot of it in journals and scribbling, and as my memories would start resurfacing, so I wrote it down. And there were a lot of documents, transcripts from trials ... and letters that we had exchanged.

MB Patch: What was the goal of the book?

Thompson-Cannino: Each of us had our own goals. Ron wants people to understand what it's like to be an innocent person locked away from your family and friends in prison. For me, I wanted to teach about memory, eyewitness identification, the slippery slope of it and the curious nature of it. I wanted people who would be potential jurors or witnesses to understand. In the big picture, it's about forgiveness, how to move forward and recover.

MB Patch: Did your children know your whole story before the book was written?

Thompson-Cannino: They grew up knowing something had happened to me. My babies, now 21, were 5 when Ron was exonerated. Then, they were 7 when we became friends. They weren't ready to hear the story. They were in fifth grade when my story became extremely public. Because it was so public, their schoolmates were talking about it, and they warped the story. They would come home and say,  "I heard you got shot," or "I heard you got kidnapped and thrown in a truck," that kind of thing. It was a decision I made I would tell them what I thought they were able to comprehend of the story at that point. Since then, since they've grown up, they've heard more about it. The boys have read the book. The girls try to read the book and can't get through it. But they've heard me speak, and they've hung out with Ron.

MB Patch: What is your next big move now that the book is published?

Thompson-Cannino: Now I'm actively working on helping states to abolish the death penalty, which is something I'm very passionate about. There is more education to do in helping states to have better practices in how we collect memory. Bigger than that, at some point down the line in my life, I'd like to get involved with international human rights issues, particularly that relate to sexual violence against women.

MB Patch: What role do you play in advocacy?

Thompson-Cannino: I go to states that have a bill pending to replace the death penalty, or something like that, and I try to help those states by talking to the legislature about why it's important to do away with the death penalty. That system is failing, it's expensive, it's arbitrary, it's racially biased. I talk just from a victim's perspective, from my perspective, on how we can change the system to be more effective. People need to understand: We've executed innocent people. We've done it. Statistics will show you the chances are very high.

MB Patch: Where can someone go for those types of statistics and that information?

Thompson-Cannino: There's the National Coalition to End the Death Penalty. Many victims' family members have websites that advocate abolishment. There you will find information on why it doesn't work for the victim's family, what they want instead. There are sites for innocence projects. Most states have one; you can see what they're doing and why it's important.

I encourage people to read more about the issues of innocence. For so many people, this stuff will never touch them. No one seems to care until it personally impacts them. But they should understand these are human lives and people's family members. And, this is important, for every innocent person in prison, the guilty person is still out there. ... It is very important work, and it could some day touch your own personal life.

Thompson-Cannino's book, Picking Cotton, is available in Borders, Barnes & Noble, on Amazon, the Kindle, as an audiobook and at PickingCottonBook.com. The website also has information such as an eyewitness test and links for information on innocence projects.

Thompson-Cannino will appear from 6 to 7:30 tonight at Pages to discuss her book and Innocence Matters, a nonprofit organization committed to protecting the innocent by preventing wrongful convictions.