under voir dire, they brought this bobby pool into the courtroom. and of course, he said no, man, i never said anything like that hand they asked me, do you recognize the person in this courtroom that raped you, jennifer? i said yes, he's sitting at the defense table over there. are you pointing to ronald cotton. i'm pointing to ronald cotton. you don't recognize this man over here. no, sir, never seen him in my life. two weeks later, ronald cotton was found guilty of two first degree sex offenses, two breaking and entering. he received happen life sentence and 35 years and it was reason for champagne. again, ronald cotton would never be free. ronald cotton would never marry, never be a father, never hug his mother, every thanksgiving, every christmas would be spent with him locked up. and i prayed. i used to pray every night, dear god, god bless my children, my mom, my dad and would you please have ronald cotton killed in prison today? that was my prayer. i hated him. he was a monster. he destroyed my life. and then in 1995, this thing called d.n.a

and, bobby poole never asked for my forgiveness. never cared if i gave to it him but i gave to it him anyway, because no one deserves that kind of power and control over anybody's life. ever. and, so by releasing that, i released the control that he had on my life, and i began to be not a rape victim, i became a survivor. and that was very intentional. [applause]. >> mr. cotton -- >> one more, and i will owe you, i know. >> i heard you say that your family really helped you get you through this. mine did, also. and i think as a testament to your courage, your spirit, and your personality, and i commend you on that, and i think everybody here needs to give the families a hand, to stand by the wrongly convicted because they are often, often taken for granted. [applause]. >> i'm glad i don't know you, anthony... >> i have a brief statement to make, first of all, thank you for coming down and sharing your struggles with us, and allowing us to share in that, to share in that passage from being confined to being proven innocent to truly b

the nation's most heralded information technology groups as senior director of technology at the bobby pool, leading telecommunications projects teams at andersen consulting and writing strategy briefs at the advisory board company. c, too has been on television on cnbc, bloomberg tv, marketplace radio, print media, the new york times, washington post and congressional quarterly. he is trained as a lawyer, previously senior vice president and senior adviser for energy policy and capital markets. he left to form clear view nerggy partners, an organization that provides corporate and financial sector clients with projections of what is next in washington. analyses of how government actions affect energy fundamentals. we have a wide specter of age and experience and training and re are delighted to have you here. now senator wicker has joined us wd we will hear whenever opening statements you might have before we proceed to our witnesses. >> i understand, mr. chairman, that you are being magnanimous and forgoing an opening statement. boen so, if you will give me a couple minutes, let me say ho