'I Was Certain, But I Was Wrong' — Jennifer Thompson

In her essay, Jennifer Thompson recounts her traumatic experience of being raped and her subsequent wrongful identification of her attacker, Ronald Cotton, which led to his imprisonment for 11 years. The piece discusses the implications of eyewitness testimony and highlights the dangers of relying solely on the confidence of witnesses in criminal cases, using the example of another man, Gary Graham, facing execution based on similar circumstances. Ultimately, Thompson reflects on her ongoing anguish over the impact of her mistake and urges caution in the justice system regarding eyewitness accounts.