Cook Wants Deal Overturned that Ended his Murder Charge

TYLER (AP) – A former Texas death row inmate says he wants to tear up an agreement that dismissed his murder charge while protecting prosecutors in his case from any findings of misconduct. Kerry Max Cook fired his legal team last week after a judge dropped the charge against him in the 1977 Tyler slaying of a 21-year-old woman. In Facebook posts and emails to the New York-based Innocence Project and the Innocence Project of Texas, the 60-year-old Cook says he never approved an agreement that would absolve prosecutors of wrongdoing. Cook has been free since 1999, after a judge found his rights were violated due to false testimony and suppressed evidence that could have helped his defense. He still wants full exoneration and has a hearing this month to determine his innocence.