http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4852659n

(CBS) It's a cliché of courtroom dramas - that moment when the witness is asked "Do you see the person who committed the crime here in this courtroom before you?" It happens in real courtrooms all the time, and to jurors, that point of the finger by a confident eyewitness is about as damning as evidence can get.

But there is one type of evidence that's even more persuasive: DNA. There have been 233 people exonerated by DNA in this country, and now a stunning pattern has emerged: more than three quarters of them were sent to prison at least in part because an eyewitness pointed a finger - an eyewitness we now know was wrong.

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It was hot and humid in Burlington, N.C. on the night of July 28, 1984. Jennifer Thompson, then a 22-year-old college student, had gone to bed early in her off-campus apartment. As she slept, a man shattered the light bulb near her back door, cut her phone line, and broke in.

"I remember kind of waking up and turning my head to the side and saying, 'Who's there? Who is it?' And I saw the top of someone's head kind of sliding beside my mattress. I screamed and I felt a blade go to my throat," Thompson told 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl.

Thompson said the man, armed with a knife, told her to shut up or that he would kill her.

Her first thought was to offer him anything she had to go away. "'You can have my credit card. You can have my wallet. You can have anything in the apartment. You can have my car.' And he looked at me and said, 'I don't want your money.' And I knew what was gettin' ready to happen."

She vowed to stay alert and study him so that if she lived, she could help put him away forever. "'What is his voice? Does he have an accent? Does he have a scar? Is there a tattoo?'" Thompson explained.

"He's raping you, and you're studying his face," Stahl remarked.

"It was just trying to pay attention to a detail, that if I survived, and that was my plan, I'd be able to help the police catch him," she replied.

After about half an hour, Thompson tricked the rapist into letting her get up and fix him a drink; she ran out the back door. He fled and raped a second woman half a mile away. Detective Mike Gauldin met Thompson at the hospital.

"The first comment I remember her making was that, 'I'm gonna get this guy that did this to me.' She said, 'I took the time to look at him. I will be able to identify him if I'm given an opportunity,'" Gauldin remembered.

Asked if she had been able to pick out any distinguishing characteristics, Thompson told Stahl, "He had a pencil-thin mustache. His eyes were almond shaped."

Detective Gauldin worked with Thompson to make a composite sketch, poring over eyes, noses, ears and lips in an effort trying to recreate the face she had seen that night. The sketch went out, and tips started coming in.

One of those tips was about a young man named Ronald Cotton. He worked at a restaurant near the scene of both rapes, and had a record: a guilty plea to breaking and entering, and as a teenager, to sexual assault.

Three days after the rape, Gauldin called Thompson in to do a photo lineup. He lay six pictures down on the table, said the perpetrator may or may not be one of them, and told her to take her time.

Gauldin said Thompson did not immediately identify a photo, taking her time to study each picture.

"I can remember almost feeling like I was at an SAT test. You know, where you start narrowing down your choices. You can discount A and B," Thompson said.

"Oh, like multiple choice?" Stahl asked.

"Exactly," Thompson replied.

I want to thank you for all of your imput. I have forward both attorneys this site and also the site of the criminal justice page that Suzan has forward to us. thank you again. If you have any other imput on how we can get our son out of jail please I'm all ears. thank you again. Toni

I live here in Hi. I know Kelly and even wrote a letter for Shaun several years back. The whole story just smelled bad from the onset.
My son was living in Colorado and is now in New Jersey, a state we have no ties to. That is where the crime was committed. There is so much to this story it would take hours.
He was set up by a very bad man that thought if he committed the crime, he could ride it out on our son's coat tails.

They have no evidence, they admit they only have circumstantial evidence and I have to say, that is weak at it's best. It is all done on assumption and theory.
We have found the police will arrest someone and then build their case.
I have found after much looking, that prosecutors rarely if ever back down from their way of thinking. Even after new evidence proves them wrong.
I have found hundreds of cases where they have either lied or hid evidence from the defense. That is why I stress being pro active and going over all the discovery yourself piece by piece. Even if you think it is very minor. You may have a wonderful attorney, but he doesn't know what may be left out like your family would.
I pray that Shaun is speaking to absolulely no one in jail. They can and will twist it 7 days to Sunday and use it against him.
My son had to stand up in court, even before his arraignement and hear the words out of the prosecutors mouth that his mother is working with them. I have never spoken to a prosecutor in my life. They are going to put me on the stand to expose the other guy. They know he is slime, but in the meantime, my son is the one suffering.
Also, if you aren't, document every time you speak with anyone. Date, time and place. Take notes on every conversation with anyone remotely related to the case.
Judges love documentation. Keep this to yourself.
Go back and look through everything you ever had concerning his case.
I read where the lady that identified Shaun after taking out her contacts had 20/400 vision. That is the exact vision I have and I would never have been able to indentify a person from any distance.
Toni, I pray that Justice will prevail for our sons. They have so much to give the world.

Thank you so much.
I am so happy you are on top of everything. Like you, this has been a lesson in the making. I am glad that Shaun is more or less keeping to himself. He sounds like my son, just a naturally friendly person that wants to love everyone and believe the best comes out of them. It has been a chore to get him to not be so open, but I think he understands how important it is now.
At least here on the island, they have been indicting and getting the hearings done in a week or so. Where our son is, they have people in jail there for 3 years that haven't even been indicted yet. And the sad part is, they have no evidence either on them. He said probably 5-10% are totally innocent in there. But it pays for the jails to keep them full. They make so much money when they do. From the jail space, to the commissary, to the phone calls, which are horrendous. It is all about the money.
Nightly when I watch law shows, I have a whole new perspective on the defense side.
We have a status hearing coming up soon and are scared to death. The prosecutor has been a bulldog on this case, since it is so high profile. She has lied like you can't believe.
So, I thank you for your prayers, goodness knows we do need them.
My thought and prayers are with your family also.
Take care.

Thank you so much for your prayers and best wishes. As we spoke the other day, what has been so hard is the detectives telling us they didn't believe our son did it and they want the other guy. So why is my son still in jail? They have nothing on him and his attorneys don't even know why he was arrested.
We are trying very hard to not be mad, but the whole family has suffered beyond our wildest imaginations, all over nothing.
No one could ever believe something like this could happen in this country, but I can tell you, I have found it to have happened more than anyone could imagine.
In the meantime, he has lost his, his good name, his truck, his tools, his living, all personal possessions, and most importantly the birth of his first child. A child he has wanted so badly since he was a kid toting his baby sister around at 8 years old.
God Bless these two fine young men.

Thank you for your kind words.