A man breaks into Jennifer's apartment, holds a knife to her throat, and rapes her while she is alone.

Jennifer works with a police sketch artist to create a composite image of her attacker after the assault.

Jennifer identifies a photograph of Ronald Cotton at the police station as the man who raped her.

Ronald Cotton voluntarily goes to the police station to clear his name and is instead detained as a suspect.

Jennifer picks the man holding card number five — Ronald Cotton — out of a physical police lineup.

Ronald is found guilty at his first trial and sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years.

Jennifer prays for Ronald Cotton to suffer rape in prison and die miserably before going to hell.

Ronald spots fellow inmate Bobby Poole and recognizes him as matching the description of Jennifer's real attacker.

Ronald's father visits prison and convinces him not to kill Bobby Poole; Ronald destroys the shank he made.

Ronald is convicted a second time at a retrial conducted before an all-white jury.

A private lab performs DNA testing on evidence from the rape, finding no match to Ronald Cotton.

The prison warden informs Ronald that the real rapist has confessed and that Ronald is going home.

A judge declares Ronald a free man in court; he hugs his family as his attorney weeps in the background.

Ronald and Jennifer meet privately at a Baptist church, where Ronald forgives her and they embrace.

Ronald and Jennifer speak together at a rally for a wrongfully convicted man; Jennifer tells him, 'Thank God I picked you.'

Jennifer Thompson is raped in her Burlington apartment and commits herself to identifying her attacker, leading her to name Ronald Cotton in two separate lineups. Ronald, knowing he is innocent, goes to the police to clear his name but is instead convicted and sentenced to life in prison. During his years behind bars, Ronald spots fellow inmate Bobby Poole and suspects he is the real rapist, but his efforts to expose Poole are blocked at every turn. With the help of dedicated attorneys, DNA testing is eventually pursued and definitively excludes Ronald, leading to his release. After eleven years of wrongful imprisonment, Ronald is declared a free man and the two eventually meet face to face, where he offers Jennifer his forgiveness. Their improbable friendship grows into a partnership in activism, culminating in Jennifer's final declaration: 'Thank God I picked you.'

The headline events driving Ronald Cotton's wrongful conviction and ultimate exoneration.

Jennifer escapes her attacker by slipping out a back door after offering to make him a drink.

Jennifer speaks with Detective Gauldin at the hospital and learns a second woman was raped by the same man.

Paul asks Jennifer at an ice cream parlor if she enjoyed being raped, effectively ending their relationship.

Jennifer testifies at Ronald's probable cause hearing; the judge raises Ronald's bond to $450,000.

Ronald arrives in prison and must fight off a predatory inmate named New York who claims ownership of him.

Ronald confronts and fights inmate Kenny after Kenny stalks him and follows him into the prison showers.

Ronald's sister calls to tell him their mother has suffered a stroke, leaving her partially blind and paralyzed.

The North Carolina Supreme Court grants Ronald a new trial because key evidence was withheld from the first jury.

Mary Reynolds changes her story and identifies Ronald Cotton as her rapist at his second trial.

Ronald sings a song he wrote about his innocence and faith when given the chance to speak at his second sentencing.

Ronald receives a calico kitten he names Judy from a fellow inmate at the Caledonia farm prison.

Ronald appears on Larry King Live, where the governor's pardon is announced and he asks the public for a job.

Detective Lowe visits Ronald at his restaurant job and tells him that both he and Jennifer are sorry.

Jennifer agrees to participate in a Frontline documentary about eyewitness misidentification called 'What Jennifer Saw.'

The governor signs a bill awarding Ronald ten thousand dollars for each year he was wrongfully imprisoned.

From Jennifer's desperate escape on the night of the rape to the cruelty she later faced from those closest to her, Pool 2 traces the human toll the crime took on both victims before and after Ronald's conviction. Ronald's years in prison are defined by dangerous confrontations with other inmates, his mother's health collapse, and the painful futility of his attempts to expose Bobby Poole. A doomed second trial deepens his sentence while his most important defense — evidence about Poole — is kept from the jury entirely. After his release, Ronald and Jennifer each navigate public exposure, private shame, and the slow work of rebuilding their lives. Their eventual reconciliation is shaped by a series of smaller, crucial moments — a detective's apology at a restaurant, a documentary appearance, and a government compensation bill — that collectively chart the distance both had to travel.

The personal costs and institutional failures that shaped Ronald's and Jennifer's parallel journeys.

During the assault, Jennifer turns on the bathroom light hoping to memorize her attacker's face and identifying details.

Ronald gives Detective Lowe his alibi and witnesses' names at the police station, but Lowe writes nothing down.

Ronald's mother visits him in jail and reveals he had the wrong night — his original alibi will not hold.

Cellmate Fearnow tells police that Ronald was muttering in his sleep about threatening a woman.

Jennifer takes the stand at the first trial and publicly identifies Ronald Cotton as the man who raped her.

Defense attorney Phil Mosely urges Ronald to plead guilty during the first trial when the verdict looks uncertain.

The judge at Ronald's second trial rules that all evidence and testimony about Bobby Poole is inadmissible.

Law professor Richard Rosen agrees to review Ronald's case and brings in former student and attorney Tom Lambeth.

Ronald and his attorneys agree to pursue DNA testing despite the risk that his own DNA could end the case.

Gauldin tells Jennifer that Ronald Cotton did not rape her and that Bobby Poole has confessed to the crime.

Jennifer fears Ronald will seek revenge against her and her children and alerts their school to watch over them.

Jennifer runs into defense attorney Phil Mosely at a McDonald's; his unexpected kindness toward her is almost unbearable.

Jennifer watches the Frontline documentary and hears Ronald say he wants to hear from her in her own words.

Robbin pulls Jennifer aside alone after Ronald's forgiveness and demands to know why Jennifer waited so long to come forward.

Jennifer and Ronald tell each other they love each other during a phone call, overheard by Jennifer's daughters.

Pool 3 traces the pivotal moments of realization, choice, and emotional reckoning that steered the case and both lives toward their ultimate resolution. From Jennifer studying her attacker's face in a darkened bathroom to Ronald watching a detective refuse to write down his alibi witnesses, the early events reveal how the truth was buried almost immediately. Fearnow's false tip, a crumbling alibi, and a judge's suppression of evidence about Bobby Poole each represent moments when justice slipped further from reach. The decision to pursue DNA testing marks the turning point that finally reverses course and frees Ronald. In the aftermath, both Jennifer and Ronald face interior reckonings — fear, guilt, unexpected grace, and the hard work of self-forgiveness — that transform them from a wrongful accuser and her victim into genuine, devoted friends.

The decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that changed everything for Ronald and Jennifer.