Senior State District Judge C

Senior State District Judge C.C. "Kit" Cooke recently expressed his concerns about the fairness of the death penalty during a legal seminar. The Texas judge recalled how the 11 death penalty cases he presided over during his 23-years as a judge altered his feelings about capital punishment. Cooke helped craft the state's death penalty law when he served as a state representative. "I was looking at it as a young politician, with about 90 percent of my district supporting the death penalty. Now, from a judge's perspective and taking care of people's rights, I think it has a lot of flaws." Among the flaws cited by Cooke were inadequate legal representation, access to DNA testing and the racial disparity of those executed.