Jessie Cook was a beloved member of the Indiana criminal defense community. Her legacy lives on in the lawyers who knew her, learned from her, and were inspired by her excellence. Jessie was a formidable lawyer who never lost a death penalty case. She was brilliant in the courtroom and on paper, and as one of the crowning achievements of a stellar career, went to the Supreme Court and came back with a win: U.S. v. Erlinger (2023). She was also a teacher, devoting much of her time to training lawyers and teaching trial advocacy programs at IU Maurer and IU McKinney for over forty years. Jessie was deeply involved in improving Indiana’s criminal legal system, serving on the Indiana Supreme Court’s Rules Committee, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, the Indiana State Bar Association’s Board of Governors and the ISBA’s Criminal Justice Section. She was a founding member of the Indiana Federal Community Defenders and the Indiana chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Her accolades are too numerous to mention, but the two she was most proud of were Indiana Public Defender Council’s Gideon Award (2008) and the Federal Community Defenders’ Thurgood Marshall Award for indigent defense in federal court (2014).
This scholarship honors Jessie’s belief in the humanity of each individual facing prosecution, and to the perfection of her craft. Jessie was equally committed to developing talent in new lawyers who shared her passion. This scholarship honors her career in a way that she would have appreciated: by lifting up a new generation of lawyers.