Kerry Max Cook was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 21-year-old woman on June 10, 1977. In 1999, he was released from prison after DNA evidence exonerated him. Cook wrote “Chasing Justice” about his time spent in prison and recently spoke with Crimejunkies about his story and his thoughts on the latest death penalty news...

Why did it take 20 years for you to finally walk free?

My story is known as the worst example of documented  police & prosecutorial  misconduct ever recorded in Texas history.  This malfeasance spanned two generations of the district attorney's office and nearly 22 years. Much like the proverbial doctor caught in malpractice, prosecutions and police sought to bury their mistake.

Records reveal in my case that prosecutors concealed critical  exculpatory information while arguing for my execution all the way up to the United State Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The Houston Chronicle, a leading conservative Newspaper in Texas, wrote that police and prosecutors had a "Win at all cost" mentality and would stop at nothing to make me appear guilty. 

It took me over 20 years in a modern day Samson versus Goliath story  because in the end, as I say in my book, CHASING JUSTICE, the truth in this case was never as important  as the careers of those who were in a position to suppress it. That's why I came within eleven days of being executed and it  took me over 20 years to finally walk free. 

What was life like on death row? 

In 1978, Police and prosecutors used the "Psychological Profile" of a Tyler psychologist  whose degree was in Counseling -- not forensic psychology - -to profile the rape and murder of Linda Edward's as one committed by a misogynistic, maniacal  crazed homosexual. 

I worked at a gay bar in Dallas and was living in that lifestyle. Upon conviction, I became this crazed, homosexual  killer and hater of women.

Immediately upon arriving to Texas death row I was considered a  pariah, an outcast because I was a convicted rapist.  Prison is not only a phallicentric society driven by male testosterone, it is also a very judgmental one: only the killers of police and more bonefide murderers are "respected." As a convicted rapist, I was brutally raped and physically abused almost daily. "Good Pussy was carved on my backside, and I was hurled to the bottom of the food-chain and forced to subsist with likewise reviled inmates.  In order to avoid execution - -  not by the State of Texas - - by the other inmates, I was forced to live the next 20 years as a sexual slave.

What are your thoughts on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that child rapists cannot be sentenced to death?

I think, personally, until such time we have a perfect legal system, the innocent ought not to be the collateral damage so we can practice a flawed one. 

And living with the kind of sexual offenders I lived with, I think if the act of sexually molesting a child is the same as killing one, in order to increase the chase to get away with it, the perpetrator would silence their victims and take a chance.

I think as horrible as it may sound, but based on my vast knowledge of sexual offenders from living with them and hearing their stories for over 20 years, the United States Supreme Court may have saved the lives of children.  

What is your opinion on inmates' argument that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment?

I think death by euthanasia - - lethal injection --  amounts to basic pillow smothering. If we as a society are going to be in the business of killing people to show that killing people is wrong, then a humane form of death should be the goal. 

People tend to think 15 years later when someone is about to be executed, injecting them with a lethal cocktail is not punishment enough; that they should be dismembered or at best, tortured.  All too often our politicians are influenced by that verbiage. 

As a man who's been there, I can tell you the dying is easy; it's the living that's hard. If it really is about genuine punishment, life without possibility is a far richer, far more painful and agonizing death than a moment's suffocation. Prison was so horrible for me, I attempted suicide three times. 

What type of death penalty reform do you think is needed?

The Mike Nifong's (South Carolina, Duke Lacrosse case) of the American judicial system are the execution and not the rule. There is very little, if any, accountability and police and prosecutors enjoy what's tantamount to absolute immunity when it comes to convicting the innocent -- or worse -- even executing them.

In my home State of Texas, a former prosecutor has admitted he wrongly convicted, had sentenced to death and later executed Ruben Cantu. Other than this admission, the Texas criminal "justice" society is silent. No one mourns for the poor except the poor. 

In summation, I  think the death penalty is vile, discriminatory, and archaic as a modern day criminal justice solution. It is the only criminal justice solution in which police and prosecutors get to bury their mistakes. The death penalty is fraught with irreversible mistakes. 

Why did you decide to speak out after your release rather than live a quiet life?

There came a time in my long quest for justice that it just wasn't about justice for me, but for others like me. In the end, I do what I do because if it could happen to me, it could happen to you. That's why I do what I do. I didn't write CHASING JUSTICE to sit on the sidelines and complain about what was wrong with the American legal system, but weigh in on the National debate on how to improve it and close the gaps the innocent are falling to their deaths through. 

What message do you hope to teach others?

That the death penalty -- the American criminal legal system in general -- isn't about black, white, yellow or brown. The color of the death penalty is green -- the color of money. 

Where can readers purchase your book "Chasing Justice?"

Chasing Justice can be purchased at any major book store such as Barnes & Nobles, Borders, but it can also be purchased from Amazon.com on my web site at www.chasingjustice.com