Jewish prisoner sentenced to death gets new trial for anti-Semitism

by Junna Base November 9, 2024

Randy Halprin, a 47-year-old Jewish man on death row in Texas, has won the right to a new trial after his lawyers found that the judge who previously sentenced him had made baseless anti-Semitic claims in the past, reported the Independent on Friday.

Halprin was convicted of shooting a police officer in a series of robberies in 2000 after he escaped from prison with fellow inmates. Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins, 29, was shot 11 times and died from his wounds. According to NBC5, Halprin claimed he never fired the gun, but Texas law held him responsible for the actions of those who conspired with him.

According to NBC, Halprin had been serving a 30-year prison sentence for beating a toddler before fleeing.

Judge Vickers Cunningham, who oversaw the trial in Dallas, sentenced Halprin to death. However, the Texas Court of Appeals overturned the verdict and granted Halprin a new trial because of concerns that Judge Cunningham may have been prejudiced against Halprin at the time of sentencing.

The appeals panel voted 6-3 to reopen the case after evidence was presented that Cunningham continued to make anti-Semitic claims throughout his career.

Police booking photos show (clockwise from top left) George Rivas, Michael Rodriguez, Joseph Garcia and Randy Halprin after their arrest in Woodland Park, early January 22, 2001. The last two of the infamous “Texas Seven” prison escapees, described as armed and extremely dangerous feared, gave up on peace (Source: REUTERS)

Cunningham had made statements outside the courtroom about Jews “with ‘great hatred,’ [and] Disgust and [with] “Over the years the intensity increased,” the court said.

The judge also reportedly made anti-Semitic comments about Halprin outside the courtroom, referring to Halprin as “the Jew,” “Randy the Jew” and “the Jew Halprin,” according to NBC.

“The uncontradicted evidence supports the finding that Cunningham formed an opinion about Halprin that was based on an extrajudicial factor – Cunningham’s toxic anti-Semitism,” the appeals court wrote in its ruling.

“Today, the Court of Appeals took a step toward greater confidence in the criminal law by throwing out a hopelessly tainted death sentence from a bigoted and biased judge,” Tivon Schardl, one of Halprin’s lawyers, said in a statement. “It also reminded Texans that religious bigotry has no place in our courts.”

Four of the escaped prisoners involved in the shooting have already been executed and Patrick Murphy is awaiting execution. His execution was initially halted after he argued that his religious freedom had been violated because officials had not allowed his Buddhist spiritual advisor to accompany him.

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Previous allegations of racism

Cunningham is reportedly no longer a judge and now works as an attorney in private practice in Dallas. His office reportedly refused to comment on the case.

Although Cunningham had previously denied accusations of bigotry, he told the Dallas Morning News in 2018 that his living trust would only provide additional benefits to his children if they married other white Christians – and that the marriage was heterosexual. He told the newspaper that he was initially against interracial marriage, but his views evolved.

“I strongly support traditional family values,” Cunningham said. “If you marry a person of the opposite sex who is Caucasian or Christian, they receive a distribution.”

Bill Cunningham, the former judge’s brother, claimed in 2018 that Cunningham had threatened his black husband, according to The Dallas Morning News.

“His views and actions disqualify anyone from holding public office in 2018,” Bill Cunningham told the Dallas News. “It scares me to death when I think of people in power who could hurt people.”

Amanda Tackett, a former D Magazine writer who worked on Cunningham’s 2006 campaign for district attorney, reportedly claimed that the judge repeatedly used racial slurs about black people.

“I’ve never met another Caucasian person like this,” Tackett said. “Vic Cunningham is like a character from a movie.”

Dallas News also reported that Cunningham’s son had sent text messages expressing uncertainty about whether his father would accept his interracial relationship with an Asian woman.

“I let my father accept [sic] “Interracial relationships, starting with me and my relationship with my Vietnamese girlfriend,” the son explained. “It’s a slow process, but it’s happening [sic] Trust him to turn around. And if not, he has one less person at his dinner table.”

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