JENNIFER THOMPSON: It was July of 1984. I was a student at Elon College. As I was sleeping, a man jumped up on my bed, and I knew that he was going to rape me, and I felt pretty confident he was going to kill me.
RONALD COTTON: One day they come and get me and they take me to the Burlington Police Department for a physical lineup. And they put those charges on me. I'm sitting in my cell thinking, you know, "What did I do to deserve something like this?"
JENNIFER THOMPSON: I was just overwhelmed with relief. This man was going to be taken off the streets, and he would never, ever hurt another woman again.
RONALD COTTON: I knew that I was in prison. I knew I wasn't supposed to be, but there's a reason for everything. I was on my way to the gym, and I happened to notice an inmate. I said, "You kind of look like the drawing of a composite sketch of a crime that they convicted me on. Did you commit the crime?"
JENNIFER THOMPSON: Ronald Cotton believed the actual perpetrator was a man by the name of Bobby Poole, who was in the same prison.
RONALD COTTON: I found out that he confessed to another inmate. I was serving his time. I wrote to the Court of Appeals in Raleigh and requested a DNA test. I said, "I'm an innocent man. The good Lord knows it up above. And I want to have this test done."
JENNIFER THOMPSON: Captain Gauldin and the Assistant District Attorney paid me a visit, and they said, "The DNA test is back, and it belongs to Bobby Poole." RONALD COTTON: The warden told me, he said, "Cotton," he said, "You're going home in the morning. You're an innocent man."
JENNIFER THOMPSON: I asked for a private meeting between Ronald and myself. And I just looked at him and I said, "If I spent every second of every minute of every hour of every day for the rest of my life telling you 'I'm sorry,' can you ever forgive me?" And he started to cry, and I had been sobbing. And he took my hand, and he said, "I forgave you years ago."
RONALD COTTON: I said, "All I want is good things, you know, for me, for you, your family, my family, peace and happiness." JENNIFER THOMPSON: And we became friends that day.
RONALD COTTON: It blossomed. It’s bloomed a full bloom rose.
JENNIFER THOMPSON: Hi, honey.
RONALD COTTON: Hey, that weather's a mess out there.
JENNIFER THOMPSON: We've gone all across the United States to talk about wrongful convictions and what happens to our exonerees and about eyewitness ID. But, more importantly, we really talk about restorative justice and healing and forgiveness.
RONALD COTTON: And it's just amazing, the people, how excited they get about the things that Jennifer and I have done.
JENNIFER THOMPSON: It's something that we thought was the right thing to do. But to know that it's really made a difference is huge.
RONALD COTTON: It made me feel very proud. You know, it's a blessing in disguise.
