Jewish Man Who Alleged Judge Was Bigoted Gets Stay of Execution in Texas

Death row inmate Randy Halprin has claimed that former Judge Vickers Cunningham was biased against him, and used racial slurs about his Jewish heritage. With multiple appeals pending in Texas and federal courts, he's now asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his Oct. 10 execution.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday stayed the Oct. 10 execution of Randy Halprin, a Texas death row inmate who’s alleged that his trial judge showed bias by using racial slurs about his Jewish heritage.

Hours earlier, Halprin had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution.

The allegations involve former Dallas County Criminal District Judge Vickers “Vic” Cunningham, who presided over Halprin’s 2003 trial. Cunningham didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The Texas high court ruled that Halprin met the requirements under state law to seek habeas corpus review, and remanded the case to Dallas County’s 283rd District Court for further review.

“Today’s decision to stay Randy Halprin’s scheduled execution is a signal that bigotry and bias are unacceptable in the criminal justice system. The clear anti-Semitism directed towards Mr. Halprin by his judge has troubled many members of the community who have spoken out,” said a statement by Federal Public Defender Tivon Schardl, who represents Halprin. “A fair trial requires an impartial judge — and Mr. Halprin did not have a fair and neutral judge when his life was at stake.”

Halprin was a member of the “Texas 7,” a group of inmates who escaped prison and went on a crime spree that ended with the murder of a Dallas police officer in 2000. Halprin was convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to death.

He has filed multiple appeals in state and district trial and appellate courts, arguing that he must get a new trial because Cunningham’s judicial bias denied him his right to due process. Halprin claimed that in addition to the racial slurs, Cunningham “bragged about his role in convicting and sentencing to death the Jewish and Latino members of the Texas 7.” Most recently, Halprin asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to stay his execution as a Dallas County district court considers his application for a writ of habeas corpus.

Just hours before the Texas court granted the stay of execution, Halprin had asked the U.S. Supreme Court for that relief and also filed a petition for a writ of certiorari. He argued in his petition that it was the wrong result when, previously, he raised the judicial bias claims before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which held they were barred because they ripened in 2003 during the trial, even though Halprin didn’t learn of Cunningham’s bias until 2018.

Source: law.com, Angela Morris, October 4, 2019

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