This is FRONTLINE's old website. The content here may be outdated or no longer functioning.

Browse over 300 documentaries
on our current website.

Watch Now


Q: Looking at Bobby Poole and Ronald Cotton - what were you sitting in court thinking?

THOMPSON: When Bobby Poole was brought in, the jury was asked to leave.... but I stayed, as well as the rest of the people in the courtroom, and I can remember looking at him and looking at Ronald Cotton and both thinking, "Gosh, I mean they're such rotten people, and you're both here in front of me," ... but I never remember looking at Bobby Poole thinking, "I've got the wrong person. I mean I've made this huge mistake, Now I remember." That never entered my head. It just didn't. I thought, this is just a game they're playing, and looking over at Ronald Cotton, I never saw him change his demeanor, so I was never compelled to think, "Oh my gosh, what a mistake we've made."

the photos | cotton's wrongful conviction | interviews | faqs | re-evaluating procedures | song of an innocent man | links | tapes & transcripts | reactions | explore frontline | wgbh

web site copyright 1995-2014 WGBH educational foundation