A Texas man who spent nearly two decades on death row has been exonerated — nearly 47 years and three trials since he was convicted of murdering and raping his neighbor.
Kerry Max Cook, now 68, was found guilty of murdering Linda Jo Edwards, 21, in 1978.
But on Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled he is “basically innocent” after evidence was withheld during his first trial in 1978 and some of the expert testimony was later found to be false.
“This case is fraught with allegations of state misconduct that warrant setting aside the applicant’s conviction,” said Judge Bert Richardson. wrote to the court’s opinion.
“And when it comes to solid support for factual innocence, this case has it all: uncontroversial Brady violations, evidence of false testimony, admissions of perjury and new scientific evidence.”
Kerry Max Cook, now 68, was found ‘basically innocent’ of the 1978 murder of Linda Jo Edwards, 21
Edwards was found brutally murdered and mutilated in her bedroom at an apartment complex
Edwards was found brutally murdered and mutilated in her bedroom in an apartment complex in Tyler, Texas, in 1977.
Cook lived in the same complex, and police alleged that a set of fingerprints found on Edwards’ sliding door matched Cook’s.
The key witness at that first trial in 1978, Edward Scott Jackson, also testified that Cook told him he had killed Edwards.
He was sentenced to death in 1979 and during his time on death row, Cook was stabbed and raped by other inmates. Texas Monthly Reports.
But Jackson later recanted his testimony, saying, “I lied to save myself.”
An expert witness — a sergeant who was considered an expert on fingerprints — also admitted he was pressured by the district attorney’s office to claim the fingerprints were fresh. This is reported by the Death Penalty Information Center.
Scientific analysis and expert testimony would later debunk the claim.
Police claimed that a set of fingerprints found on Edwards’ sliding door matched Cook’s
It would later also emerge that the police destroyed human hair in the course of the investigation – which could contain exculpatory evidence.
Richardson described these actions on Wednesday as, in his view, going “beyond gross negligence” and reaching “into the realm of deliberate deception against the tribunal.”
Cook’s conviction was subsequently overturned in 1991, and a second trial a year later ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.
A third trial in 1994 ended with a new conviction and the death penalty, but again the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Cook’s due process had been violated, overturning the conviction in 1996 and sending the case back to the trial court.
Cook was released from prison the following year.
Cook was tried three times for the murder and eventually reached a plea agreement
During his time on death row, Cook was stabbed and raped by the other inmates
In 1999, DNA testing results on Edwards’ underwear came back negative for Cook.
It instead matched Edwards’ then-boyfriend, James Mayfield, who was married and twice her age, Texas Monthly reports.
Mayfield had also lied about his whereabouts the night of Edwards’ murder.
Before a fourth trial in 1999, Cook agreed to a no contest plea deal in which he would be sentenced to 20 years in prison and serve time, but the conviction would stand.
Cook became an outspoken critic of the death penalty and wrote a book entitled Chasing Justice
Yet Cook continued to fight for exoneration and became an outspoken critic of the death penalty, writing a book titled Chasing Justice. His story would also become the subject of a hit play, The Exonerated.
In August 2016, the court recommended that Cook be exonerated based on the false testimony, but ruled that the new evidence did not prove innocence.
However, Judge Richardson disagreed with the ruling in his judgment on Wednesday.
“All the state has to do is prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt — which the state could never achieve in this case,” he wrote.
“Cook would therefore not have to prove his innocence beyond a reasonable doubt.”
“After nearly twenty torturous years on death row, we believe that Cook has assumed the burden necessary for true innocence and is hereby granted relief.”
Judge Bert Richardson of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that Cook meets the burden of proof to be found “actually innocent.”
Kerry and his lawyers celebrated the news.
“Kerry has suffered tremendously for almost 50 years and nothing can give him his life back,” said attorney Glenn Garber of the Exoneration Initiative. told CNN.
“The decision finally and powerfully clears his name while describing the state’s outrageous and unrelenting misconduct,” he continued.
“It is important that the people of Tyler, Smith County and the world understand what it has been all along: a disturbing witch hunt by state actors.”
However, the appeals court opinion noted that it did not hold current prosecutors “in any way responsible for the past events of this case.”
But the good news for Cook came just as he suffered a stroke, with doctors telling him his arteries were 90 percent blocked.
“They perform life-threatening operations,” he told Texas Monthly. ‘I hope I can figure it out.
“I prayed, ‘I hope they rule and release me,’” he continued.
“Because if I die, I at least want to know I won.”
