Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit - Softcover

Cook, Kerry Max

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060574658 ISBN 13: 9780060574659

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2008

Synopsis

Kerry Cook is an innocent man who wrongly served two decades in Texas's notorious death house for the brutal 1977 rape and murder of 21-year-old Linda Jo Edwards. His struggle for freedom is said to be one of the worst cases of police and prosecutorial misconduct in American history.

In the summer of 1977, Cook was staying in Tyler, TX. He met an attractive young woman named Linda Edwards and was invited back to her apartment for a drink and left his fingerprints on the sliding glass door. Four days later, Ms. Edwards was found brutally murdered. When the police dusted for prints, they found Cook's and immediately arrested him. Edward Jackson testified that Cook confessed to the murder during a jailhouse conversation. Jackson was set free, only to kill again several years later. Cook, on the other hand, was convicted and sentenced to death.

He was thrown into a world for which no one could be prepared, and he survived beatings, sexual abuse, and depression; all the while, he fought against a justice system that was determined to keep him quiet and loath to admit a mistake. Through the work of a crusading group of lawyers who forced a series of retrials, his case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered the case be reconsidered. It wasn't until the spring of 1999 that Cook was finally able to put the nightmare behind him: long-suppressed DNA evidence had linked James Mayfield, Linda Edwards's ex-lover, to the crime.

About this title

Product Description

Chasing Justice In the tradition of "Dead Man Walking" and "The Executioner's Song" comes a harrowing first-person story of the longest-tenured death row inmate in U.S. history to be freed after a wrongful conviction led to his serving 22 years on Texas's death row. Full description

Review

"A brutal but compelling account. . . . Amazing." -- William S. Sessions, former FBI Director and federal judge

"A brutal but compelling account. . . . Amazing."--William S. Sessions, former FBI Director and federal judge

"The incredible story of this enforced visit to hell and back is a modern day version of Dante and Kafka."--Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School

"Kafka-esque...That he survived is astounding; the circumstances that finally freed him...are nearly miraculous."--Texas Monthly

"I dare you to read this book. . . An inspiring human being."--Richard Dreyfuss

""Chasing Justice" is captivating...It is going to break through political barriers and be a catalyst for reform.--Sister Helen Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking"

""Chasing Justice" is an immensely compelling story that is hard to believe. If it were fiction, no one would believe it. But it's not, and Kerry Cook's account of his nightmare is fascinating."--John Grisham

"An inmate's harrowing first-person account of a travesty of Texas jurisprudence."--Kirkus Reviews

"Cook's story is so gripping that only a heart of steel won't break after reading it."--People

"Chasing Justice" is an immensely compelling story that is hard to believe. If it were fiction, no one would believe it. But it s not, and Kerry Cook s account of his nightmare is fascinating. --John Grisham"

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0060574658
• ISBN 13: 9780060574659
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 366