Texas man seeks to clear his name in 1977 murder
A Texas man is asking a court to declare him innocent of a 1977 murder he’s twice been convicted of committing.
Lawyers for Kerry Max Cook, in court documents filed Monday, claim that six rounds of DNA testing have failed to produce any evidence that Cook committed the crime, the Dallas Morning News reports.
However, the tests confirm the presence of semen from another man—the victim’s boss and former lover, whose extramarital affair with the young woman ended badly, court documents say.
In 1978, Cook was convicted and sentenced to die for the stabbing and beating death of Linda Jo Edwards in her Tyler, Texas, apartment in 1977. But the verdict and sentence were later overturned.
A second trial ended in a mistrial. But Cook was later convicted and sentenced to die a second time. However, that verdict too was later overturned.
In 1999, on the eve of what would have been his fourth trial, Cook agreed to a no-contest plea and was released from prison. He has since married and had a son, but he has always maintained his innocence. Now, he’s hoping the DNA evidence will clear his name.
Cook and his lawyers declined to comment to the Dallas Morning News, referring to legal documents filed in the case.
Mike West, an assistant Smith County district attorney, said he hadn’t time to review the documents yet, but promised to give them “a serious look.”
James Mayfield, the man whose DNA was found on evidence from the crime scene, could not be reached for comment. But Mayfield, who testified at Cook’s trial that he was at home with his family on the night of the murder, has in the past denied any role in the crime.