Synopses & Reviews
A brilliant and unprecedented work,
Chasing Justice is the riveting chronicle of how a smalltown murder became one of the worst cases of prosecutorial misconduct in American historyand sent the author, an innocent man, to hell for twenty-two harrowing years. Kerry Max Cook is one of the longest-tenured death-row prisoners to be freed: This is his unbelievable story and the only fi rsthand account of its kind.
Wrongfully convicted of killing a young woman in Texas, Cook was sentenced to death in 1978 and served two decades on death row, in a prison system so notoriously brutal and violent that in 1980 a federal court ruled that serving time in Texas's jails was "cruel and unusual punishment." As scores of men around him were executed, Cook relentlessly battled a legal system that wanted him dead; meanwhile he fought daily to survive amid unspeakable conditions and routine assaults. When an advocate and a crusading lawyer joined his struggle in the 1990s, a series of retrials was forced. At last, in November 1996, Texas's highest appeals court threw out Cook's conviction, citing overwhelming evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct.
And finally in the spring of 1999 long-overlooked DNA evidence was tested and it linked another man to the rape and murder for which Cook had been convicted. Today, Cook is a free man and the proud father of a young son.
A shocking look inside death row, a legal thriller, and an inspirational story of one man's ultimately triumphant fight against extreme adversity, Chasing Justice is a landmark work, written with the powerful authenticity of Cook's own hand. It will forever unsettle our view of the American justice system.
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“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
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“An inmates harrowing first-person account of a travesty of Texas jurisprudence.” Kirkus Reviews
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“Deserves a wide readership alongside John Grishams The Innocent Man. Publishers Weekly
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“Chasing Justice is captivating...It is going to break through political barriers and be a catalyst for reform. Sister Helen Prejean, author of < i=""> Dead Man Walking <>
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“I dare you to read this book. . . An inspiring human being.” Richard Dreyfuss
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“A brutal but compelling account. . . . Amazing.” William S. Sessions, former FBI Director and federal judge
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“Kafka-esque...That he survived is astounding; the circumstances that finally freed him...are nearly miraculous.” Texas Monthly
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“Cooks story is so gripping that only a heart of steel wont break after reading it.” People
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“Chasing Justice is an immensely compelling story that is hard to believe. If it were fiction, no one would believe it. But its not, and Kerry Cooks account of his nightmare is fascinating.” John Grisham
Synopsis
America's longest-tenured death-row inmate to be freed after wrongful conviction describes the police and prosecutorial misconduct that led to his conviction for the 1977 murder of a young woman, his brutal experience behind bars before his 1999 DNA exoneration, and his subsequent work as an advocate for legal reform.
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 the Author
Kerry Max Cook was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and spent much of his youth on army bases in Europe. In 1972, he and his family returned to the United States to live in Texas. Since gaining his freedom, Cook has been an outspoken advocate for legal reform. He has made numerous national and international media appearances and has lectured at Princeton, Yale, and the University of Chicago. His story was incorporated into the acclaimed play The Exonerated, of which he is often a cast member. He was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship to write Chasing Justice.