Randy Halprin was convicted and sentenced to death in 2003 in the killing of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins.
DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — A Dallas County judge has recommended to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to throw out the conviction and death sentence and give a new trial for one of two living members of the “Texas 7” prison gang.
On Monday, Judge Lela L. Mays of the District Court for the 283rd District made the recommendation, citing that death row inmate Randy Halprin’s constitutional rights were violated due to receiving an unfair trial rooted with anti-Semitic bias.
Halprin was convicted and sentenced to death in 2003 in the killing of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins.
In December 2000, Halprin and six others escaped a prison in Kennedy, Texas. They were known as the “Texas 7.” On Christmas Eve, they shot and killed Officer Hawkins. Six were caught and eventually sentenced to death. The seventh escapee died by suicide.
Before his escape, Halprin was already serving a 30-year prison sentence for beating a child. He confessed to being there when Officer Hawkins was murdered, though denies he fired a gun.
In September, WFAA reported that Halprin could get a new trial due to the alleged anti-Semitic comments by the trial judge, according to sources.
Witnesses have testified that the judge in Halprin’s case, Vickers Cunningham, was known to make racial and anti-Semitic comments against Halprin, who is Jewish.
Sources told WFAA in September prosecutors agree that the 2003 trial judge exhibited bias against Halprin, which prevented a fair and impartial trial. In order for Halprin to get a new trial, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will have to accept Judge Mays’ conclusions.
Halprin had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Oct. 10, 2019, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution just days before.
Halprin and Patrick Murphy are the last two of the “Texas 7” who have not been executed. Murphy also got a stay of execution in November 2019, after the state refused to provide Murphy a Buddhist chaplain.
Tivon Schardl, Randy Halprin’s attorney, made the following statement following the judge’s recommendation:
“Due process and equality before the law found their champion in Judge Mays today, as did the people of Dallas County and the State of Texas. As the State conceded, the testimony presented to Judge Mays proved that Judge Vickers Cunningham was biased against Randy Halprin because of Mr. Halprin’s Jewish identity. And the State acknowledges that the Constitution allows only one remedy in cases of judicial bias, and that is to vacate the biased court’s judgment and start over with the chance at a fair trial before an unbiased judge. We are confident the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will follow the law, accept the State’s concessions, and adopt the trial court’s recommendations.”
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