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Thread: Randy Ethan Halprin - Texas Death Row

  1. #31
    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    Yeah Murphy should be done for.
    "The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer." -Theodore Roosevelt

  2. #32
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the US Supreme Court DENIED Halprin's certiorari petition.

    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    Case Numbers: (17-70026)
    Decision Date: December 17, 2018
    Rehearing Denied: January 29, 2019

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-9676.html

  3. #33
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Distributed for conference March 6, 2020

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/19-6156.html
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  4. #34
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court DENIED Halprin's petition for a writ of certiorari.

    Lower Ct: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    Case Numbers: (19-70016, 19-70017)
    Decision Date: September 23, 2019

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/...20zor_h4d8.pdf

  5. #35
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Texas Seven member Randy Halprin returns to court to argue judge at murder trial was anti-Semitic

    Halprin is on death row after his sentence for killing Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve 2000

    By Krista M. Torralva
    Dallas Morning Star

    Randy Halprin, one of the Texas Seven prison escapees convicted in the murder of an Irving police officer, will appear in a Dallas County courtroom Wednesday morning as lawyers argue whether the judge at his 2003 trial prejudiced the jury against him.

    Halprin, who is Jewish, has argued in court records that former Judge Vickers L. Cunningham is racist and anti-Semitic and that his bias affected Halprin’s trial in the 2000 slaying of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins.
    Cunningham declined to comment Tuesday.

    The state’s highest criminal court — the Court of Criminal Appeals — halted Halprin’s scheduled execution in 2019 so the allegations could be further investigated. The judges on the appellate court sent the case back to state District Judge Lela Mays of the 283rd District Court in Dallas County for review. A hearing for lawyers to argue their cases is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

    Witnesses will not be called during the hearing. Prosecutors and defense lawyers will each have 40 minutes to speak directly to the judge. Mays probably will not make a decision from the bench. She has until Oct. 11 to submit her recommendation to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final ruling.

    Jurors convicted Halprin, now 43, of capital murder and recommended a death sentence for his role in Hawkins’ killing during a robbery at a sporting goods store.

    Halprin, who had escaped prison on Christmas Eve with six other men, never denied he was at the Oshman’s Sporting Goods store, at State Highway 183 and Belt Line Road. But he has denied being one of the men who pulled the trigger the night Hawkins was shot 11 times and then run over.

    The other members of the Texas Seven received the same sentence — except for Larry Harper, who killed himself before the escapees were recaptured in Colorado. Only Halprin and Patrick Murphy remain on death row.

    Before the prison escape, Halprin was serving 30 years for beating a child in Tarrant County.

    Cunningham oversaw the trials of five of the Texas Seven, including Joseph Garcia and Michael Rodriguez, who were Hispanic. Rodriguez was also Jewish and attended services with Halprin in prison. Garcia and Rodriguez have been executed.

    Attorneys for Halprin investigated Cunningham after The Dallas Morning News reported during his 2018 bid for Dallas County commissioner that he established a trust for his children that hinged on their marrying someone of their race, the opposite sex and a Christian. Cunningham, who is white, has repeatedly denied the allegations of bigotry but confirmed he established the trust for his children.

    Halprin’s legal team spoke with Cunningham’s former campaign worker and friends who said the former judge “took special pride in the death sentences [of the Texas Seven] because they included Latinos and a Jew.”

    Tammy McKinney, a longtime friend of Cunningham’s, said in a sworn affidavit included in the defense team’s court filings that she heard him use offensive language, including an ethnic slur, when referring to members of the Texas Seven.

    But defense lawyers will have to present a compelling case that any bias Cunningham had affected Halprin’s constitutional right to a fair trial. Halprin’s attorneys Tivon Schardl, Timothy Gumkowski and Paul Mansur have argued that Cunningham’s beliefs “informed his thinking about public service in the law.”

    Tarrant County prosecutors who are handling the hearing after Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot recused his office from the case have argued that evidence doesn’t show Halprin was denied a fair trial. They argue that Cunningham’s comments about Halprin were made years after the trial and, therefore, do not show he had a bias toward Halprin during the trial. None of the evidence of racism and bigotry shows an impact on Halprin’s trial, prosecutors wrote.

    Creuzot recused his office from the case because Cunningham’s daughter is a prosecutor in the office and could have been called to testify. Defense lawyers included an affidavit from a Jewish man she dated while in college who said Cunningham’s daughter ended their relationship after her father threatened to withhold funding for her law school tuition if she continued dating him.

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/cour...-anti-semitic/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  6. #36
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    The judge deciding this is a democrat. She claims to support the death penalty where applicable.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #37
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutor: Anti-Semitism claims against judge ‘egregious,’ didn’t impact Dallas death penalty case

    Randy Halprin is on death row for killing Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve 2000

    By Krista M. Torralva
    Dallas Morning Star

    Update: 3:35 p.m.: This story was updated with details from the hearing.

    A prosecutor called allegations that a former judge is racist and anti-Semitic “reprehensible and egregious” but argued Wednesday in court that they did not affect the trial of a man on death row for killing an Irving police officer with six other prison escapees.

    Texas Seven prison escapee Randy Halprin, who is Jewish, and his attorneys argue that Vickers L. Cunningham’s bias affected Halprin’s trial in the Christmas Eve 2000 slaying of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins.

    To prove their argument, Halprin’s lawyers must demonstrate Cunningham’s bias impacted his constitutional right to a fair trial. Halprin’s attorneys Paul Mansur, Tivon Schardl and Timothy Gumkowski argued that Cunningham’s beliefs “informed his thinking about public service in the law.”

    Attorneys for Halprin investigated Cunningham after The Dallas Morning News reported during his 2018 bid for Dallas County commissioner that he established a trust for his children that hinged on their marrying someone of their race, the opposite sex and a Christian. Cunningham, who is white, has repeatedly denied the allegations of bigotry but confirmed he established the trust for his children.

    Halprin’s legal team spoke with Cunningham’s former campaign worker and friends who said the former judge “took special pride in the death sentences [of the Texas Seven] because they included Latinos and a Jew,” according to court records.

    Tammy McKinney, a longtime friend of Cunningham’s, said in a sworn affidavit included in the defense team’s court filings that she heard him use offensive language, including an ethnic slur, when referring to members of the Texas Seven.

    Cunningham oversaw the trials of five of the Texas Seven, including Joseph Garcia and Michael Rodriguez, who were Hispanic. Rodriguez was also Jewish and attended services with Halprin in prison. Garcia and Rodriguez have been executed. Cunningham, who did not attend the hearing, declined to comment this week.

    The state’s highest criminal court — the Court of Criminal Appeals — halted Halprin’s scheduled execution in 2019 so the allegations could be investigated. The judges on the appellate court sent the case back to state District Judge Lela Mays of the 283rd District Court in Dallas County for review.

    Jurors convicted Halprin, now 43, of capital murder and recommended a death sentence for his role in Hawkins’ killing during a robbery at a sporting goods store. Before the prison escape, Halprin was serving 30 years for beating a child in Tarrant County.

    Halprin never denied he was at the Oshman’s Sporting Goods store, at State Highway 183 and Belt Line Road. But he has denied being one of the men who pulled the trigger the night Hawkins was shot 11 times and then run over.

    The other members of the Texas Seven received the same sentence — except for Larry Harper, who killed himself to avoid capture in Colorado. Only Halprin and Patrick Murphy remain on death row.

    Tarrant County prosecutors are handling the hearing after Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot recused his office from the case. They argued that evidence doesn’t show Cunningham’s personal bias impacted the case. They argued Cunningham’s comments about Halprin were made years after the trial and, therefore, do not show he was prejudiced against Halprin during the trial.

    “While (Cunningham’s comments) are reprehensible and egregious, they show post-trial hostility that does not demonstrate a due process violation against this man at the time of trial,” Prosecutor Anne Grady said.

    She argued Cunningham made the same rulings in the other trials from the case. She also pointed to a comment Cunningham made to Halprin during the trial: “This is your trial. My job is to make sure you get a fair one.”

    Grady told Mays that Cunningham set aside his personal views for the trial.

    “The record shows that Judge Cunningham was well aware of his role in ensuring impartial justice,” Grady and he “accomplished that goal.”

    Halprin’s attorneys argued Cunningham showed bias in a 2005 letter when Cunningham resigned from the bench in a failed run for Dallas County district attorney. Cunningham wrote to then-Gov. Rick Perry where the former judge wrote: “I was honored to be selected to administer justice and insure that the guilty were punished.”

    They’ve also argued Cunningham made critical rulings that hurt Halprin’s defense, such as his decision to exclude a prison report rating the escapees’ leadership qualities. The findings could have supported Halrpin’s defense that he was less culpable in the killing, his attorneys have said.

    Mansur argued the U.S. Supreme Court has shown in previous rulings that demonstrating an “unacceptable risk” to a person’s constitutional right to a fair trial is enough to warrant a new trial.

    “If you draw a line through all the evidence that we have of this lifelong, pervasive racial animus bigotry before the trial, after the trial, while he was on the bench during this trial ... I think its inescapable that you’re going to have to find an actual bias that was present during this trial,” Mansur said.

    Creuzot recused his office from the case because Cunningham’s daughter is a prosecutor in the office and could have been called to testify. Defense lawyers included an affidavit from a Jewish man she dated in college who said Cunningham’s daughter ended their relationship after her father threatened to withhold funding for her law school tuition if she continued dating him.

    No witnesses testified during the hearing. Prosecutors and defense lawyers each had 40 minutes to make their case. Mays has until Oct. 11 to submit her recommendation to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which will make the final ruling.

    Halprin wore a striped jumpsuit from the Dallas County jail where he has been housed since his transfer from a prison in Livingston for the hearing. He was flanked by his attorneys and spiritual advisor, Rabbi Dan Gordon of Temple Beth Torah in Humble.

    “He’s spent a lot of time working on his soul and takes responsibility for what he’s done,” Gordon said of Halprin.

    Correction 3:35 p.m.: This article originally incorrectly said when the Texas Seven escaped from prison. They killed Irving officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve 2000. They escaped earlier that month.

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/cour...-anti-semitic/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #38
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Literally any judge would have sentenced all of the Texas Seven to death - this judge's alleged antisemitism, if true, didn't affect the outcome of the trial at all.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  9. #39
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death row inmate’s trial attorneys say judge may be anti-Semitic but it didn’t affect the case

    Lawyers who represented Texas Seven prison escapee Randy Halprin at his 2003 capital murder trial dispute claims made by Halprin’s current attorneys that the judge denied him a fair trial because he is Jewish

    By Krista M. Torralva
    Dallas Morning Star

    Attorneys who represented Texas Seven prison escapee Randy Halprin at his 2003 capital murder trial dispute claims made by Halprin’s current lawyers that the judge denied him a fair trial because he is Jewish.

    Halprin and appellate attorneys who are fighting to prevent his execution argued in court that former judge Vickers L. Cunningham is a longtime racist and is anti-Semitic, and that his bias affected Halprin’s trial for the Christmas Eve 2000 slaying of Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins.

    Halprin was transferred from death row in Livingston to Dallas County for a hearing Wednesday before state District Judge Lela Mays. Attorneys for Halprin investigated Cunningham after The Dallas Morning News reported during his 2018 bid for Dallas County commissioner that he established a trust for his children that hinged on their marrying someone of their race, the opposite sex and a Christian. Cunningham resigned from the bench in 2005 to run unsuccessfully for Dallas County district attorney.

    Halprin’s legal team spoke with Cunningham’s former campaign worker and friends who said the former judge “took special pride in the death sentences [of the Texas Seven] because they included Latinos and a Jew,” according to court records.

    Halprin’s trial attorney Ed “Bubba” King told The Dallas Morning News that Cunningham’s personal views on Jewish people did not impact the trial.

    “Vic very well may be a racist. Vic very well may be anti-Semitic. But it never raised its ugly head in front of me,” King said.

    Cunningham, who is white, has repeatedly denied the allegations of bigotry but confirmed he established the trust for his children. Cunningham did not attend the hearing and declined to comment this week.

    At trial, Halprin was represented by King and lawyer George Ashford III.

    King and Ashford said they couldn’t pinpoint a time in the trial where Cunningham ruled against them because of a racial or religious bias. Both said Cunningham was regularly tough on defense lawyers and attributed that to his previous career as a prosecutor. Cunningham had not been a defense lawyer before becoming a judge.

    Ashford said Cunningham was “kind of smirky faced” when he ruled against defense lawyers, “like it was fun to him.”

    “I thought that Judge Cunningham was basically the fourth prosecutor … But, you know, that was kind of Vic. He was a longtime prosecutor and then became a judge and that was just him,” Ashford said.

    But to Cunningham’s credit, the former judge provided resources from the county’s budget for the defense team and didn’t prevent them from hiring experts they wanted, King said.

    Jurors convicted Halprin, now 43, of capital murder and recommended a death sentence for his role in Hawkins’ killing during a robbery at a sporting goods store. Before the prison escape, Halprin was serving 30 years for beating a child in Tarrant County.

    Halprin’s legal teams have argued he was less culpable in the killing and was on the other side of the Oshman’s Sporting Goods store, at State Highway 183 and Belt Line Road, when Hawkins was shot 11 times and then run over.

    The other members of the Texas Seven received the same sentence — except for Larry Harper, who killed himself to avoid capture in Colorado. Only Halprin and Patrick Murphy remain on death row.

    Cunningham oversaw the trials of five of the Texas Seven, including Joseph Garcia and Michael Rodriguez, who were Hispanic. Rodriguez was also Jewish and attended services with Halprin in prison. Garcia and Rodriguez have been executed.

    The state’s highest criminal court — the Court of Criminal Appeals — halted Halprin’s scheduled execution in 2019 so the allegations could be investigated. Mays has an Oct. 11 deadline to submit her recommendation to the appeals court.

    King, who was frustrated appellate lawyers and reporters didn’t ask for his opinion on the trial, defended Cunningham’s ability to set aside personal biases on the bench.

    “I had other trials in front of him. He never mistreated anybody. I don’t know any lawyers that would say that Vic mistreated a Black defendant or Latino defendant or Asian defendant or gay defendant or any other kind of combination thereof,” King said.

    King said his relationship with Cunningham today is cordial. They don’t get together and aren’t close friends, King said. As a lawyer, King supported Cunningham’s bid for judge. King later became a judge himself and Cunningham, who was on the bench at that time, did not support King’s campaign, King said. Judges are prohibited from endorsing candidates for public offense under the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.

    King said he would still trust Cunningham to rule fairly if he were a judge.

    “Even (with) what I know now, it wouldn’t have bothered me,” King said.

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/cour...fect-the-case/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #40
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Just read that a court in Dallas is recommending a new trial based on his Anti Semitism claim
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

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