Overview

In 1991, an assignment covering the appeal of a death row inmate landed on journalist Vanessa Curry's desk. She would spend the next thirty years entrenched in one of the most infamous capital murder cases in Texas history-that of Kerry Max Cook.Kerry Max Cook was accused and convicted of brutally murdering and mutilating Linda Jo Edwards, a young secretary living in the town of Tyler, Texas. He was sent to death row in 1978 and spent two decades fighting for his freedom before the conviction was first overturned in 1991.Drawing from court records, news reports, and personal interviews and observations, this story is equal parts legal drama and murder mystery. It follows Cook's first trial, multiple appeals, his two retrials, the plea deal that would finally release him from prison, and his quest for actual innocence. Told from a journalist's perspective, readers get an intimate look at what really happens in and out of the courtroom. The responsibility reporters grapple with to provide a fair, unbiased accounting of events is a recurring theme throughout the book.Curry also shines a light into the dark corners of the criminal justice system, recounting instances of prosecutorial misconduct and lies told by witnesses and suspects alike. The final chapters detail the final court decision in the case, and the author's analysis of the ongoing debate about capital punishment in America.