USA - Texas. Judge: Man cleared of murder shouldn't be declared innocent.

Judge: Man cleared of murder shouldn't be declared innocent. A judge refused on Monday to endorse the innocence claims of a former Texas death row inmate even though his murder conviction was overturned after a prosecution witness admitted lying on the stand. Kerry Max Cook was twice convicted in the 1977 slaying of Linda Jo Edwards. Freed in 1999 after taking a deal to plead no contest, Cook has maintained his innocence and finally won the dismissal of his conviction earlier this year. But State District Judge Jack Carter, who approved that dismissal, said Monday that Cook and his lawyers hadn't met the higher legal standard necessary to declare him "actually innocent." Cook likely needs to clear that standard to receive millions of dollars in benefits Texas pays to the wrongfully convicted - $80,000 for every year of wrongful imprisonment, along with an annuity and other benefits. Earlier this year, authorities found that Edwards' boss and former lover, James Mayfield, wasn't truthful when he testified that the 2 had ended their affair 3 weeks before her death. After receiving immunity, Mayfield admitted the 2 had had sex the day before she was killed. Carter agreed Cook's conviction could not stand due to Mayfield's false testimony at trial. But in an order Monday, Carter declined to go further. "The ultimate issue in this case is a determination of who murdered Linda Edwards, not who had sexual relations with Linda Edwards," Carter said, according to the Tyler Morning Telegraph. Mayfield's recantation "is definitely helpful to Cook's defense, but this court does not find that it unquestionably proves that Cook is actually innocent." Carter's order will go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, which will make the final decision on Cook's claims.