Kerry Max Cook Exonerated after 47 years

Kerry’s conviction for the 1977 murder of Linda Jo Edwards in Tyler, Texas has gone down in history as one of the worst cases of police and prosecutorial misconduct that has ever occurred. Prosecutors framed him for a brutal rape and murder using false testimony, made-up forensics, and - playing on the prejudices of jurors - vilified him as a sexual deviant while ignoring evidence pointing to the true killer, who was close with law enforcement. Kerry served 20 years on death row and was terribly abused because of the nature of the crime. Even after DNA evidence confirmed the identity of the true killer as Edwards’ lover, who should have been the main suspect all along and lied at Cooks’ trials, the prosecution refused to acknowledge Kerry’s innocence and sought to cover up its decades of misconduct.

Kerry’s case - EXI’s only non-New York case - came to EXI on appeal in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, where it had been pending for nearly six years. EXI, along with local Texas counsel Keith Hampton, argued for the court to decide Kerry’s case on actual innocence grounds. On June 19, 2024, the court issued a 106-page decision resoundingly finding Kerry’s innocence and condemning the state’s half century of misconduct. Not surprisingly, after the decision came down, the Smith County DA’s Office still refused to let go and moved to reopen the case. The effort finally ended when the state’s motion was denied, and the Court of Criminal Appeals’ mandate issued on July 31, 2024, which finally put an end to Kerry’s case.