[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

June 12




TEXAS:

Texas 7 inmate says judge who sent him to death row is a bigot, so he deserves 
a new trial



An inmate condemned to die for his role in the Texas 7 prison escape says the 
Dallas judge who put him on death row is a bigot and a racist who should have 
recused himself from the case, according to a federal court filing appealing 
the man's conviction.

Randy Halprin filed the appeal saying that former state District Judge Vickers 
"Vic" Cunningham was prejudiced against him because he is Jewish and routinely 
used derogatory and offensive language about Jewish people, Catholics, African 
Americans and Hispanics. Halprin said the courts should grant him a new trial.

Halprin's attorneys wrote in the appeal, called a writ of habeas corpus, that 
Cunningham regularly spoke the N-word, condemned "the [expletive] Jews" and 
used other slurs to describe racial minorities.

The Dallas Morning News reported last year that Cunningham, who is white, 
rewarded his children with a trust if they married someone who is white, 
Christian and of the opposite sex.

Cunningham, 57, denied the allegations in the appeal Tuesday in a brief 
statement to The News. Last year, he denied racial bigotry in an interview, but 
he did confirm the trust he set up for his children.

"The fabrications contained in the writ are more of the same lies from my 
estranged brother and his friends," Cunningham said Tuesday, referring to his 
brother Bill Cunningham, who is married to a black man. "I have not 
communicated with him since our father's funeral. I will not be commenting 
further."

Halprin, 41, was a member of the Texas 7 gang of prison escapees who murdered 
Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins during a robbery on Christmas Eve 2000.

Cunningham sentenced Halprin to death in 2003.

His attorneys allege in the appeal filed last month that the judge's 
anti-Semitic beliefs and statements violated the Constitution's due process 
requirement guaranteeing fair treatment at trial. They say Halprin is entitled 
to a new trial no matter how strong the evidence is against him.

Halprin has said he did not fire his gun the night Hawkins was shot 11 times 
and run over behind an Oshman's sporting goods store. Halprin was convicted and 
sentenced based on Texas' law of parties, which allows for anyone participating 
in a crime to be held accountable for Hawkins' murder.

"Before, during, and after Randy Halprin's trial, Judge Cunningham harbored 
deep-seated animus towards and prejudices about non-white, non-Christian 
people. He expressed these views frequently in private and they informed his 
thinking about his public service in the law," Halprin's attorneys Tivon 
Schardl, Timothy Gumkowski and Paul Mansur wrote.

"Judge Cunningham had a duty not to preside over a case in which he considered 
the defendant a ... '[expletive] Jew.'"

The Dallas County district attorney's office did not respond to a request for 
comment. Toby Shook, the lead prosecutor who is now a defense attorney, 
declined to comment.

Halprin's attorneys said in the filing that they were not aware of the 
allegations against Cunningham until The News' report about the trust and other 
allegations of bigotry. Then they conducted their own investigation, they 
wrote.

Halprin does not have a scheduled execution date.

Halprin was a victim of child abuse who went on to be a child abuser. While 
baby-sitting for a friend he met at a homeless shelter, he broke a 
16-month-old's arms and legs, fractured his skull and beat his face until one 
eye filled with blood. He pleaded guilty to injury to a child and was serving a 
30-year sentence when he escaped Dec. 13, 2000, from the Connally Unit near 
Kenedy, Texas.

'Level of hatred'

In the appeal, Halprin's attorneys quote Tammy McKinney, who grew up with 
Cunningham and knows him as an adult, as saying that the judge "did not like 
anyone not of his race, religion or creed, and he was very vocal about his 
disapproval."

McKinney said that Cunningham's "level of hatred" grew as he aged but that he 
was always prejudiced and that prevented them from ever becoming "truly good 
friends," according to the court filing.

The trial of Texas 7 ringleader George Rivas was presided over by Molly 
Francis. Rivas was sentenced to death and has been executed, along with three 
other escapees. Another committed suicide to avoid capture in Colorado, and the 
gang's lookout won a reprieve in March from the U.S. Supreme Court.

When Francis was appointed to a state appellate court, Gov. Rick Perry 
appointed Cunningham as her replacement.

Cunningham was proud of the role he played in sentencing 5 of the Texas 7 to 
death, 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.

McKinney said the judge would talk about the cases at parties and, when he lost 
his inhibitions at parties, McKinney said, Cunningham "aired his prejudices." 
She recalled him using racial slurs when he suggested blacks or other 
minorities "walking into his courtroom knew they were going to go down."

When Cunningham resigned after 10 years on the bench to run for Dallas County 
district attorney, he privately said "he was running for DA so that he could 
return Dallas to a Henry Wade style of justice."

Wade served as Dallas' DA for decades and has been criticized for what some 
call his "convictions at all costs" policies, well-documented racial 
discrimination during jury selection, as well as wrongful convictions on his 
watch.

Cunningham has criticized Dallas County's exonerations, which now number more 
than 30, according to the court filing. Most of the men cleared were freed 
based on DNA evidence that proved they could not be the perpetrator.

Halprin's attorneys say campaign volunteer Amanda Tackett, described in the 
appeal as a friend of Cunningham's estranged brother, recalled that the judge 
referred to Halprin as "the Jew" at campaign events.

Tackett, a former D Magazine writer, also told Halprin's attorneys that 
Cunningham believed God chose him to preside over the Texas 7 trials and that 
he was "entitled to be" district attorney because of those cases. She also 
described bigoted behavior to The News.

He ultimately lost his bid for DA in the 2006 Republican primary. He also lost 
a runoff in 2018 for county commissioner after The News reported on the trust 
and other allegations of bigotry.

(source: Dallas Morning News)