Texas man who spent about 20 years on death row cleared of murder charges

[Little Tich]

Source: Reuters

Murder charges were dismissed on Monday against a former Texas prisoner released from jail in 1999 after serving about 20 years on death row for the rape and murder of a 21-year-old woman.

A judge in state court in East Texas approved an agreement between prosecutors and attorneys for Kerry Cook, 60, to overturn the capital murder conviction against him in the death of Linda Jo Edwards in 1977, court officials said. Cook has insisted for nearly 40 years he is innocent.

The agreement came after new evidence that proves his innocence and implicates another man, according to a statement from the Innocence Project of Texas, which represented Cook in the case.

Cook is expected to return to court on June 27, when his lawyers are expected to argue that he deserves to be exonerated, according to the statement. If that happens, he could be eligible for about $2 million or more in compensation for the two decades that he was incarcerated.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-murder-idUSKCN0YT01Q

[NNadir]

1. Thank God that moron Bush didn't kill him, although I'm sure that Georgie killed a lot more...

...innocent people beyond those he killed in Iraq, having begun his reign of malicious stupidity in Texas.

Two million dollars isn't a hell of a lot for 40 years of a man's life.

[avebury]

2. Recommended reading: Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing

Myself After Two Decades on Death Row For A Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook.

What the Prosecutor did to try to put Cook on Death Row will totally piss you off.

[sorefeet]

3. How many innocent people

do you think have actually been put to death in this country???? Over 150 have been released in my lifetime, so that tells me probably thousands over the last 2 or 3 hundred years.

[ailsagirl]

4. It's terrible when an innocent person is robbed of so many years of living

And worse, of course, to be put to death when you're innocent.

It's nightmarish just thinking about it.

[dhill926]

7. which is why there should be NO death penalty....

[SheilaT]

12. Yep.

As I recall, the other countries with a death penalty include China and Saudi Arabia. Such good company.

Actually, I understand Japan has the death penalty, but it tends to be carried out in secret. It is the only other first world country, aside from us, that kills people under law.

I am completely opposed to the death penalty.

[7962]

5. "new evidence". Wonder if that was actually available at his conviction?

wouldnt doubt it. If so, put the former prosecutor in jail for 40 yrs

[Shrike47]

9. DNA testing was not available at the time of his trial. The new evidence is DNA.

[7962]

14. I think its time for a donation to the "Innocence Project"

[mia]

6. Glad for him and his family.

Sorry that he unjustly served time.

[Marrah_G]

8. This is the biggest reason I am against the death penalty for any reason

Once someone is dead you can never make them undead if a mistake was made.

[riderinthestorm]

10. Hillary Clinton is strongly for the death penalty.

Bernie is opposed.

Just sayin'

[LeFleur1]

11. Strongly?

I heard her say if it is a horrible crime and there is no doubt at all of the guilt, then perhaps.

[Judi Lynn]

13. From 4 years ago: 2 Decades On Death Row, 15 Years In Limbo: Kerry Max Cook's Struggle For Justice

May 21, 2012 @ 07:04 AM 4,614 views The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets

2 Decades On Death Row, 15 Years In Limbo: Kerry Max Cook's Struggle For Justice



Kerry Max Cook’s hopes for legal exoneration, 15 years after he was cleared by DNA evidence, hinge on motions filed recently in Smith County, Texas.

Even though hundreds of people across the country have been declared innocent based on similar evidence, the state of Texas continues to classify Cook as a convicted murderer. But that may all change.

The saga began in the summer of 1978, when, at age 22, Cook was convicted of the rape and murder of Linda Jo Edwards. He was sent to one of the worst environments imaginable: Death Row in the Ellis Unit North of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville. While housed there, he was stabbed, raped and beaten. He even attempted suicide after living in the extreme despair of a man behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Cook had been in Linda Jo’s apartment a couple of days before her murder and left a fingerprint on her patio door. Dug Collard, a police officer and expert witness for the state, said at the time, “I would estimate that those fingerprints were approximately between six and 12 hours old.” During Cook’s trial, no valid forensic method could determine the age of a fingerprint. Today, there still is no way to do that. The state’s expert later admitted that he’d fabricated the testimony at the behest of the prosecution.

More:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/crime/2012/05/21/two-decades-on-death-row-15-years-in-limbo-kerry-max-cooks-struggle-for-justice/#183696d86124

[christx30]

15. Upon admitting he fabricated the testimony,

he should have been arrested for perjury. And the prosecutor should have been arrested for subornation of perjury.

Unless this crap is actually prosecuted, it's going to continue to happen.