Smith County court drops indictment against Kerry Max Cook in 1977 unsolved murder (2025)

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include information about Cook's career.

“It’s finally over.”

Those were the words of Kerry Max Cook on Wednesday after soaking in the news a court dropped charges against him for a 1977 crime he did not commit.

Cook, whom a court found is innocent of a 1977 Tyler murder, and his lawyer on Sept. 13 filed a request to dismiss the original indictment against him in the case of the murder of Linda Jo Edwards. Although a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals earlier this year determined Cook to be actually innocent of the crime, that indictment still hung over his head.

But not anymore. On Wednesday, Cook’s name was formally cleared once and for all.

Smith County District Attorney Jacob Putman and Assistant Criminal DA Michael J. West on Wednesday afternoon filed a motion in the 241st District Court on behalf of the State of Texas to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the Court of Criminal Appeals found Cook to be “actually innocent of the offense alleged by the indictment in this case,” the motion reads.

After reviewing the motion, Smith County 241st District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson on Wednesday dismissed the indictment and formally dropped all charges against him in the death of Edwards. The order states the decision came after “due consideration of the state’s motion and the Court of Criminal Appeals’ opinion.”

In that opinion, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found instances of prosecutorial misconduct, proof of false testimony, admissions of perjury and new scientific evidence. While the June ruling fully exonerated Cook, who wrongfully spent 20 years on death row for the crime, this week’s dismissal was the final hurdle Cook had to overcome.

The move finally closes the door on decades of false allegations against Cook. Edwards was brutally murdered in her Tyler apartment in 1977. Her actual killer was never determined, but Cook was wrongly accused of the crime for decades.

“It’s finally over,” Cook told the Tyler Morning Telegraph on Wednesday night. “A 47-year-long nightmare has ended. Today starts the first day (of) the rest of my life.”

Cook’s first conviction in 1978 was overturned in 1991, and a second trial in 1992 ended in a mistrial. A third trial in 1994 resulted in a new conviction and death sentence. However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed this verdict in 1996, citing misconduct by police and prosecutors. In 1999, the Smith County district attorney planned a fourth trial but ultimately reached a plea deal that released Cook from prison while maintaining his conviction. Until 2024, Cook remained classified as a murderer by the Texas justice system.

Because of the wrongful conviction, he experienced “extreme physical abuse and psychological trauma by other inmates” while on death row, his lawyer previously stated in court documents.

After his release, Cook, now 68, became an international keynote speaker "making a difference in the lives of others around the world as an ambassador for hope and determination." In addition to inspiring others through his speaking engagements, Cook is an author of best-seller "Chasing Justice," a facilitator, media consultant, law school presenter, and "an expert on teaching everyone to believe in their dreams and never give up."

TheCook case and all its complexitieshas drawn national attention and is referred to as one of the America's most notable capital murder cases of the last 50 years.

Justice still eludes for Edwards, who was 21 and working as a secretary and living in a Tyler apartment at the time of her murder.

Cynthia Edwards, the wife of Linda Jo’s brother Jimmy, previously told the Tyler Morning Telegraph she’s glad an innocent man is no longer being accused of the crime, but it also means the real killer got away.

She said Cook earned his freedom. She acknowledged the negative impact the murder had on her husband’s family but thinks about how Cook’s family must have felt all these years, too.

“Something didn’t go right. They had the wrong man all these years,” Cynthia Edwards said. “They sentenced him to death … Two innocent people could have [been killed].”

There are many unanswered questions about what happened to Linda Jo Edwards, but those may never be resolved since key players have died and evidence has degraded.

Acquaintances described Linda Jo Edwards as a lovely, responsible and professional young woman. Cynthia Edwards said the family hopes the case is reopened and investigated so justice can be served for the young woman, who tragically lost her life at the hands of a unknown killer.