IN PRINT: Anti Death Penalty Activist Carroll Pickett speaks at Princeton Theological Seminary

Kerry Max Cook served over 20 years in a Texas prison — most of them on death row. But as DNA evidence would show in 1999, he was innocent. That year, Mr. Cook was released from prison with the help of Princeton-based Centurion Ministries, a secular non-profit that works for the release of innocent prisoners.”He was a nice guy. I never felt he was guilty,” said Rev. Carroll Pickett, a former death-house chaplain at the Huntsville prison in Texas, who spoke at Princeton Theological Seminary last week. Addressing an audience of about 30 activists and seminarians, Rev. Pickett called Mr. Cook “a victim of Texas justice” but then added: “Throw that out—there’s no such thing as Texas justice.”Rev. Pickett, himself a Texan and a former Presbyterian pastor who ministered 95 men before their executions, has become an outspoken critic of the death penalty and a prominent voice in the battle over capital punishment. In 2008, he was featured in the award-winning documentary At the Death House Door, which was screened at Princeton University last Tuesday. The next night, at PTS, he encouraged Christians to play a more active role in fighting the death penalty.To keep reading, visit Centraljersey.com.