NCJ Number
234877
Date Published
1998
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotape contains a documentary from the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) dealing with wrongful conviction based on eyewitness testimony.
Abstract
This 60-minute videotape from the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) show Frontline details the case of Ronald Cotton, a man wrongfully convicted of rape based on mistaken identification from an eyewitness. The program presents in detail the case of Ronald Cotton, explores how eyewitness testimony can go wrong by examining the photos from the case and how DNA evidence can be used to correct wrongful convictions, and discusses the existence of more cases of this nature. The program includes interviews with numerous individuals, including Jennifer Thompson, the victim; Ronald Cotton; Captain Mike Gauldin, the police detective in charge of the case; Elizabeth Loftus, a forensic psychologist who specializes in memory issues; Philip Moseley, the court-appointed defense attorney for Mr. Cotton; Barry Scheck, a DNA expert and professor of law at the Benjamin N. Cordozo School of Law, and co-founder of the law school's Innocence Project; Peter Neufeld, a DNA expert and co-founder of the Innocence Project; and Richard Rosen, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina who, unimpressed with the case against Cotton, filed a motion to have Cotton's DNA tested resulting in Cotton's exclusion as the perpetrator of the rape.