TYLER, Texas (AP) — A man twice sentenced to death — but later freed — over the 1977 rape and murder of an East Texas woman will get new DNA testing that he says will demonstrate his innocence.
A judge on Monday granted Kerry Max Cook's request to have more testing. Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham says he doesn't know yet what Cook will want tested or re-tested, but that he doesn't oppose it.
Cook was twice convicted of killing Linda Jo Edwards. Courts overturned both convictions. In 1999, Cook agreed to plead no contest to murder for a sentence of time served.
Judge John Ovard of Dallas denied the request of Cook's attorneys to have a Smith County judge recuse herself and to have the case moved elsewhere.
