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Thread: Randy Ethan Halprin - Texas Death Row

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    Randy Ethan Halprin - Texas Death Row


    Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins




    Randy Halprin (2019)


    Facts of the Crime:

    On December 24, 2000, in Irving, Halprin and six co-defendants fatally shot a 31-year-old police officer, Aubrey Hawkins, while on escape from the TDCJ Connally Unit.

    Accomplices Joseph Garcia, Patrick Murphy, Donald Newbury, George Rivas and Michael Rodriguez were all sentenced to death.

    Accomplice Larry Harper committed suicide on January 22, 2001 to avoid capture.

    For more on Garcia, who was executed on December 4, 2018, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...exas-Death-Row
    For more on Murphy, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...exas-Death-Row
    For more on Newbury, who was executed on February 4, 2015, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...ebruary-4-2015
    For more on Rivas, who was executed on February 29, 2012, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...bruary-29-2012
    For more on Rodriguez, who was executed on August 14, 2008, see: http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...08-(Volunteer)

    Halprin was sentenced to death in Dallas County in May 2003.

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    May 29, 2008

    The last time the Texas Seven were together, their crime spree claimed a life. Last week, members of the group came together to try to save one.

    Randy Halprin was one of the seven escaped convicts who robbed an Irving Oshman's SuperSports store on Christmas Eve 2000. Halprin carried a gun, had a codename and carried stolen rifles to the getaway car.

    Around 6:30 p.m., toward the end of the heist, Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins arrived on the scene after responding to a "suspicious activity" call. He was then shot 11 times before his lifeless body was dragged from his patrol car and run over by the fugitives as they fled in a Ford Explorer.

    That is what we know for sure.

    What remains in dispute, at least in the eyes of Dallas criminal defense attorneys Bruce Anton and Gary Udashen, is just how culpable Halprin was in Hawkins' death.

    The Texas Seven had escaped from Connally Unit near Kenedy, on December 13, 2000. They proceeded to carry out three robberies in Texas, including the Oshman's, before being apprehended near Colorado Springs, Colorado, in late January 2001.

    The six surviving members (Larry Harper committed suicide just before capture) were found guilty of murdering Hawkins and were sentenced to death by Dallas County juries. Halprin, the fifth to be tried, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced on June 12, 2003.

    Anton and Udashen recently filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Halprin's behalf. The writ, filed after Halprin's capital murder conviction was affirmed on direct appeal, states that "no reasonable juror could find that [Halprin] killed, attempted to kill, or intended to kill Officer Hawkins..." They argue that the imposition of the death penalty in Halprin's case violates the 8th Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

    On May 22, Judge Rick Magnis of the 283rd District Court of Dallas County began hearing testimony to determine whether, based on new evidence presented by Halprin's attorneys, Magnis should recommend to the appeals court that it grant the writ and spare Halprin's life.

    "We have strong mitigating evidence about his involvement and about the kind of person he is, compared to the other guys. If a jury heard it, it would be hard for them to give the death penalty," Udashen said.

    Some of the new evidence is based on the testimony of three ex-Texas Seven members: Michael Rodriguez, Patrick Murphy and the mastermind of the group, George Rivas. None of the three were approached by Halprin's first trial team to testify on his behalf.

    The first two days of the hearing were conducted on the 14th Floor of the Earle Cabell Federal Courthouse in Dallas, but none of the witnesses were present. Each of the three convicted murderers testified via closed circuit TV from inside the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, where death row inmates string out their final days. Halprin was not present either in person or by monitor. He is being housed in the Polunsky Unit as his death row appeal winds its way through the system.

    Under direct examination by the defense, his three ex-cohorts described Halprin as the embodiment of uselessness. All three stated that Halprin's contribution to the escape was minimal with him mostly serving as a lookout. During the three robberies, Halprin bungled whatever assignment he was given.

    Rodriguez referred to Halprin as a "180-pound child." Rivas called him an "unnecessary weight." Murphy described him as the "low man on the totem pole."

    Each witness testified that he examined Halprin's pistol after the shootout at Oshman's and found it had not been fired. Rivas said he clearly remembers this because, after receiving two gunshot wounds during the altercation, he initially believed that Halprin had shot him. He ordered a weapons check and examined Halprin's .357 pistol. There was no stench of gunpowder, and the smell of the gun-cleaner used on the weapon prior to the robbery was still pungent.

    Halprin also was shot during the Oshman's robbery and became so uncooperative and lethargic, according to the testimony of the men, that some of the gang thought about killing him. Rodriguez recalled telling Rivas while they were hiding out in Colorado that Halprin's death might be necessary because he was such a "nuisance and he was useless."

    Rodriguez said if he could have spoken with Donald Newberry (another Texas Seven member) before the group's capture, they would have "distributed [Halprin] in dumpsters all around Colorado Springs."

    During cross-examination, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office attempted to portray Halprin as an integral cog in the felons' escape. The prosecution brought up prior testimony that Halprin verbally and physically abused Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees whom the group had captured during its break out.

    Only Rodriguez remembered Halprin physically assaulting any employees, when Halprin tackled a field officer who entered a maintenance shed.

    Prosecutors also gained admissions from the witnesses that Halprin had, in fact, been active during at least two of the robberies, had carried a gun during the Oshman's theft and had received an equal share of the proceeds from each of the perpetrated crimes.

    "[Halprin] was convicted as a party," Assistant District Attorney Lisa Smith said. "You can get the death penalty as a party, so he didn't have to shoot the weapons to get the death penalty."

    The prosecution strengthened its case by undermining the credibility of the three testifying death row inmates. Murphy admitted that he was Halprin's father-in-law. Rodriguez first told the prosecution that he did not want to come to Dallas to testify, that he didn't enjoy the process. But then Smith showed him an entry from Halprin's online diary. The entry described a meeting between Halprin and Rodriguez in which Rodriguez had told the defendant about a prior time he testified in Dallas. He raved about being able to see trees and people on the van ride north. Rodriguez then told the court that Halprin's lawyers had assured him that testifying for Halprin would result in another trip to Dallas. That has not yet proven to be the case.

    Rivas, responding to questions posed by Judge Magnis, admitted to feeling responsible and guilty for Halprin being condemned to death. "They showed their true colors, who they really are," Smith said. "They're a team; they'll always be a team. Together until the end."

    Last week's hearing marked the first stage in what is typically a prolonged post-conviction process in capital cases. The court continued the hearing without setting a new date in order to give lawyers an opportunity to further investigate the case and present testimony.

    (Source: The Associated Press)

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    EX PARTE RANDY ETHAN HALPERIN

    In today's Texas Court of Criminal Appeals orders, Halperin's subsequent applications were dismissed as an abuse of writ.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    And the article

    'Texas 7' member on death row loses appeal

    One of the remaining notorious "Texas 7" gang members on death row has lost a court appeal.

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Wednesday rejected 35-year-old Randy Halprin's 31 claims challenging the validity of his conviction and death sentence.

    Halprin is the youngest of the seven inmates who escaped from a South Texas prison in December 2000 and participated in the shooting death of a suburban Dallas police officer weeks later on Christmas Eve. He and the other gang members were tracked to Colorado where one killed himself and the six were captured.

    Two already have been executed.

    Halprin was serving 30 years for injury to a child from Tarrant County when he and the others escaped from the Connally Unit prison about 60 miles southeast of San Antonio.

    http://www.chron.com/news/texas/arti...al-4370006.php
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    On June 17, 2014, Halprin filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/tex...cv01535/231470

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    On September 29, 2017, Halprin's habeas petition was denied in Federal District Court.

    https://docs.justia.com/cases/federa...1535/231470/49

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    On October 27, 2017, Halprin filed an appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca5/17-70026

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    RANDY ETHAN HALPRIN v LORIE DAVIS

    In today's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinions, the court DENIED Halprin’s request for an evidentiary hearing and DENIED his COA application.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    On January 29, 2019, the Fifth Circuit DENIED Halprin's petition for en banc rehearing.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketP...20OPINIONS.pdf

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    Jewish ‘Texas 7’ death row prisoner claims judge was anti-Semitic

    A “Texas 7” escapee on death row has filed an appeal claiming a former Dallas County judge referred to him with obscenity-laced anti-Semitic language, part of an alleged pattern of racism and bias so serious that he says the jurist should have recused himself before the man’s 2003 trial.

    The federal appeal filed by Randy Halprin, a Jewish man who was sentenced to die under the controversial law of parties, contends that ex-Judge Vickers Cunningham routinely used racial slurs, including the n-word. He allegedly told a friend that he wanted to run for office so he would save Dallas from “(n-words), Jews, ‘w******s,’ and dirty Catholics” and that he took extra pride in overseeing the death sentences of the Latino and Jewish members of the Texas 7.

    “A judge’s religious and racial prejudices are uniquely offensive to the Constitution and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system,” Halprin’s attorney’s wrote. “Given his lifelong views, Judge Cunningham must have been aware that he was required to recuse himself given his bias.”

    Cunningham has faced allegations of bigotry before; the erstwhile jurist drew heat last year after he admitted to the Dallas Morning News that he’d set up a living trust that rewarded his children only if they married a fellow white Christian.

    “I strongly support traditional family values,” he told the paper in a video interview during his 2018 campaign for county commissioner. “If you marry a person of the opposite sex that’s Caucasian, that’s Christian, they will get a distribution.”

    Days later, he lost in the Republican run-off - by just 25 votes. Cunningham did not respond Monday to the Chronicle’s request for comment.

    The case at the center of the appeal was a high-profile police killing from December 2000. That month, seven prisoners broke out of a maximum security prison 60 miles south of San Antonio.

    Led by George Rivas, a charismatic thief already serving 17 life sentences, they overpowered a maintenance supervisor at the Connally Unit and tied up civilian workers as hostages before seizing control of the guard tower. Then, they loaded up with weapons and supplies and drove out the gate in a stolen prison truck.

    After pulling off two robberies in Houston, they headed up to the Dallas area and on Christmas Eve, the men held up an Oshman's sporting goods store in Irving. They made off with $70,000 and 44 guns - but on the way out, they ran into Officer Aubrey Hawkins, the first lawman responding to the call.

    In a chaotic scene, five of the men started firing. When it was over, Hawkins lay dead in the parking lot, shot 11 times and dragged 10 feet by an SUV as the panicked prisoners fled.

    Some of the men admitted to to their roles, but Halprin has consistently maintained he never fired a shot - and that he didn’t even want to bring a gun.

    “You know, I, before the robbery, I even told them, I’m not going to go in and carry a gun, and there was a little argument,” he told the jury during trial. “And so I told them I wasn’t going to pull a gun and they said, fine, just gather clothes, grab a shopping cart, and gather clothes.”

    Under the law of parties - a Texas law that holds co-conspirators just as criminally liable as shooters - Halprin was sentenced to death, along with the other five surviving members of the crew. One man killed himself before they were captured in Colorado.

    Initially, it was Judge Molly Francis who oversaw the trial. But once she snagged an appointment to a federal appeals court, then-Gov. Rick Perry assigned Cunningham to take over her bench.

    Born and raised in a religious, Republican family near Dallas, Cunningham believed it was his “destiny” to become a judge. But, according to his childhood friend Tammy McKinney, even growing up he “did not like anyone not of his race,” an alleged bias that she said only seemed to grow over time.

    By the time he hit 30, Cunningham allegedly used racial slurs regularly, McKinney wrote in a statement.

    “If someone were actually African-American he would call them (n-word) and their first name,” McKinney wrote. “It was his signature way of talking about people of color.”

    Two years after trial, he launched a bid for Dallas County district attorney, running as a Republican. At the time, he allegedly told campaign volunteer Amanda Tackett that he wanted to return the county to one where people didn’t have to worry about Jews and other minorities.

    “My job is to prevent (n-words) from running wild again,” he allegedly said once when discussing the Texas 7 cases. One of the men he allegedly referred to as a “god**** k***” and “f***in Jew.”

    After losing the 2006 race, he didn’t run for office again until 2018. Just before the Republican run-off, the Dallas Morning News published an investigation outlining Cunningham’s alleged history of bias, based on interviews with Cunningham’s friends and family.

    To the paper and in a publicly posted statement, Cunningham denied ever using the n-word - though he admitted, on-camera, to the details of the living trust he’d set up.

    Though Halprin was sentenced to die more than 15 years ago, his legal team only learned of Cunningham’s alleged bias through last year’s reporting in the Dallas paper. Afterward, investigators interviewed people who’d know the former judge to ask about his views toward Jewish people, findings that formed the basis of the latest appeal.

    “An objective observer would conclude that Judge Cunningham could not prevent his personal prejudice against Jewish people from affecting his treatment of Mr. Halprin, whom he knew to be Jewish,” defense attorneys Tivon Schardl and Timothy Gumkowski wrote in Halprin’s latest appeal. “This Court should find that Judge Cunningham had an intolerably high risk of bias in violation of the Constitution.”

    Along with the May court filing, an earlier federal claim in the case still being litigated. Even so, according to Halprin’s attorneys, prosecutors have requested an October execution date. A judge has yet to rule on that request.

    https://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...s-13966663.php
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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