A Texas man who spent nearly 20 years on death row has been exonerated — nearly 47 years and three trials since he was sentenced for murdering and raping his neighbor.
Kerry Max Cook, now 68, was convicted of murdering 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards in 1978.
But on Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared him “truly innocent,” after evidence was withheld at his first trial in 1978 and some of the expert testimony was later shown to be false.
“This case is riddled with allegations of State misconduct that justify overturning the applicant’s conviction,” Judge Bert Richardson said. he wrote in the court’s opinion.
“And when it comes to solid support for actual innocence, this case contains it all: uncontested Brady violations, evidence of false testimony, admissions of perjury, and new scientific evidence.”
Kerry Max Cook, now 68, was found “truly innocent” of the 1978 murder of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards.
Edwards was found brutally murdered and mutilated in her apartment complex room.
Edwards was found brutally murdered and mutilated in her bedroom at an apartment complex in Tyler, Texas, in 1977.
Cook lived in the same complex and police claimed that a set of fingerprints on Edwards’ sliding patio door matched Cook’s.
The star witness in 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 considered a fingerprint expert, also admitted that the district attorney’s office pressured him to claim the fingerprints were fresh. according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Scientific analysis and expert testimony would later discredit the claim.
Police claimed that a set of fingerprints on Edwards’ sliding patio door matched Cook’s.
It was also later learned that during the investigation the police destroyed human hair, which could have contained exculpatory evidence.
Richardson described these actions in his opinion Wednesday as going “beyond gross negligence” and reaching “into the realm of intentional deception against the court.”
Cook’s conviction was later 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 death sentence, but once again, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found that Cook’s due process had been violated, overturned the conviction in 1996, and returned the case to the court of first instance.
Cook was released from prison the following year.
Cook faced trial for the murder three times and eventually reached a plea deal.
While on death row, Cook was stabbed and raped by other inmates.
In 1999, DNA test results on Edwards’ underwear came back negative for Cook.
Instead, she matched with Edwards’ boyfriend at the time, 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 accepted a no contest plea deal in which he would be sentenced to 20 years in prison and given time served, but the sentence would stand.
Cook became an outspoken critic of the death penalty and wrote a book titled Chasing Justice.
Still, 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 trial court recommended that Cook be granted relief based on the false testimony, but concluded that new evidence did not prove innocence.
Judge Richardson, however, disagreed with the ruling in his opinion Wednesday,
“The State simply has to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, something the State could never accomplish in this case,” he wrote.
“Therefore, Cook should not have to prove his innocence beyond a doubt.”
“After being incarcerated on death row for nearly 20 torturous years, we hold that Cook has met the required burden for actual innocence and relief is hereby granted.”
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Bert Richardson ruled Wednesday that Cook meets the burden of proof to be found “truly innocent.”
Kerry and his lawyers celebrated the news.
“Kerry suffered immensely for almost 50 years and nothing can bring her back to life,” said attorney Glenn Garber of the Exoneration Initiative. he told CNN.
“The decision definitively and forcefully clears his name and, at the same time, chronicles the scandalous and relentless misconduct of the State,” he continued.
“It is important that the people of Tyler, Smith County and the world understand what it was all along: a disturbing witch hunt by state actors.”
The appeals court opinion, however, noted that it does not hold current prosecutors responsible “in any way for past events in this case.”
But the good news for Cook came just as he suffered a stroke: Doctors informed him that his arteries were 90 percent blocked.
“They are performing life-threatening surgery,” he told Texas Monthly. ‘I hope to get out of this.
“I was praying, ‘I hope they rule and set me free,'” he continued.
“Because if I die, at least I want to be able to know that I won.”
