The memoir Picking Cotton is about a young white female (Jennifer Thompson) who was allegedly raped by an African-American man (Ronald Cotton) in 1984 in North Carolina.  Ronald Cotton was wrongly convicted of two counts of rape and two counts of burglary; he was sentenced to life in prison plus 54 years. Cotton served 10.5 years in prison, based on an eyewitness testimony and rubber from his tennis shoes that were consistent with rubber found at Jennifer Thompsons’ home. A flashlight found in Cotton’s home that was similar to the one used during the rape of Jennifer Thompson. A superior court judged was informed that another inmate had admitted to the crimes that Cotton was charged for, but the court did not allow this information to be heard during the trial. In May of 1995 DNA testing results showed that Ronald Cotton did not commit these crimes. Therefore, Cotton was pardoned and received a stipend check from the State of North Carolina every month for the 10.5 years that he spent in State prison for a crime he did not commit. The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic that helped prove Ronal Cotton innocent. The purpose of the Innocence Project is to do deoxyribonucleic acid testing also known as DNA testing as a way to prove people’s innocence. The purpose of the Innocence Project is to raise awareness and concern about our faulty justice system and to help prove people’s innocence for crimes that they did not commit.