Texas death row inmate requests new trial, saying judge is antisemitic
Keira WingateA Texas death row inmate who was part of the “Texas 7” gang, could be granted a new trial considering evidence whether the judge at his trial carried antisemitic beliefs.
Dallas Criminal District Judge, Lela Mays, leads the recommendation with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on whether Randy Halprin, who is Jewish, should receive a new trial due to judicial bias from trial judge Vickers Cunningham. Halprin was originally scheduled to be executed on Oct. 10, 2019.
In a signed order with 283 Judicial District of Dallas County, Judge Mays found that Halprin’s relief should be granted, stating “Halprin has raised claims of judicial bias, alleging that his trial judge, Vickers Cunningham, was biased against him because Halprin is Jewish.”
Evidence shows Cunningham has “deep-seated animosity and prejudice towards Jewish people” and that he has a “long history of making offensive and derogatory remarks about Jewish people and other racial and religious minorities.”
Halprin appeared back in court on July 14, where his lawyers argued whether Cunningham was prejudiced against him at his 2003 trial, WFAA reports.
Tearful Randy Moss responds to Jon Gruden email: 'National Football League, this hurts me'
America has had a racial reckoning: So what is the legacy of Christopher Columbus now?
Cunningham has been in the spotlight before due to remarks he made when running in the Republican primary for a Dallas County commissioner’s seat in 2018. He told Dallas Morning News that he strongly supports traditional family values and if his children “marry a person of the opposite sex that’s Caucasian, that’s Christian, they will get a distribution.”
Court records show Tammy McKinney, who grew up with Cunningham, regularly heard him use offensive language against Jews.
By the time the case went to trial, it was widely known that Halpin was a Jewish man, according to the court documents.
Halpin was already serving a 30-year sentence for injury to a child before the Christmas Eve robbery in 2000. Halprin and six other inmates escaped from the Connally Unit in South Texas and robbed an Oshmam’s Sporting Goods, resulting in the killing of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins, NBC News reported.
This is an ongoing case.
Follow Keira Wingate on Twitter: @KeiraRenee