CHASING JUSTICE My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit

Hardback. Featuring a shocking first-hand account of one man's harrowing journey of survival, justice, and fight for freedom. Wrongly convicted, Cook served two decades on Texas Death Row for the brutal 1977 rape and murder of 21yr old Linda Jo Edwards. Incarcerated for 22yrs, his struggle for liberation is a historic case of police and prosecutorial misconduct. In the sweltering summer of 1977, Cook was staying with a friend in Tyler, Texas when he met Linda Edwards and was invited back to her apartment. Four days later, Edwards was found in her apartment - brutally raped and murdered. Pressured by public outrage, the local police looked to make a quick arrest. With only a single fingerprint on a sliding glass door to link Cook to the crime, the police charged him with murder. In spite of circumstantial evidence and no motive, the detectives went as far as to coerce witnesses and falsely testified that Cook's fingerprint was from, no more than 6 to 12 hours earlier than Edward's death (it is scientifically impossible to age a fingerprint). The police also made a secret deal with Cook's fellow inmate, Edward "Shyster" Jackson. In exchange for his freedom, Jackson falsely testified that Cook confessed to the murder during a jailhouse conversation. Jackson was set free, only to kill again several years later. Cook, lacking the resources for a proper defence, was convicted and sentenced to death. After his 1978 sentence, Cook served more than 2 decades in the brutally violent prison system of Texas Death Row, which was ruled "cruel and unusual punishment" by a federal court in 1980. As scores were executed around him, Cook lost family and friends, lived through unspeakable conditions including physical and sexual assault, and fought a legal system, that had left him to die. Cook's luck changed after an advocate and a crusading lawyer joined his struggle in the 1990's, forcing a series of retrials. In November 1996, Texas's highest appeals court threw out Cook's conviction, citing overwhelming evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct. It wasn't until the spring of 1999 that long-overlooked DNA evidence was found, tested, and used to link another man to the rape and murder of Linda Jo Edwards. With Epilogue. 342pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. V. sl. damage to head of sp. which is mirrored on dw. o/w Vg+ in Vg+ dw. Review copy with loosely inserted slip.