Convicted pedo-jew gets new trial because judge was "anti-semitic"

[yankeedoodle]

Texas Jewish death row inmate who argued judge was antisemitic wins new trial
https://www.jta.org/2021/10/13/united-states/texas-jewish-death-row-inmate-who-argued-judge-was-antisemitic-wins-new-trial

(JTA) — A Jewish man who asked for a new trial on the grounds that the judge who sentenced him to death was antisemitic will be granted a new trial.

Randy Halprin, 44, was originally set to be executed on Oct. 10, 2019 but won a stay from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after he alleged that the judge who presided over his 2003 murder trial was biased against Jews and referred to him using anti-Semitic slurs, including "f—in' Jew" and "k-ke."

The stay sent Halprin's case back to Dallas County, where Judge Lela Lawrence Mays heard Halprin's arguments in June and this week issued a decision granting Halprin a new trial.

"Judge Vickers Cunningham possessed anti-semitic prejudice against Halprin which violated Halprin's constitutional right to a trial in a fair tribunal equal protection, and free exercise of religion," Mays wrote in her decision.

Halprin was serving a 30-year sentence for harming a child when he and six other inmates attempted to escape from prison. A police officer was killed during the attempt, and each member of the group, which came to be known as the "Texas 7," was sentenced to death. Halprin claimed in his trial that he never fired his gun.

The judge who presided over the original case, Vickers "Vic" Cunningham, has been accused of using several antisemitic and racist slurs and, according to the Dallas Morning News, set up a trust fund for his children on the condition that they marry white Christians of the opposite sex. Court documents quoted a childhood friend of Cunningham's who said the judge "took special pride" in sentencing the Texas 7 to death "because they included Latinos and Jews."

Several Jewish groups got involved in Halprin's case in recent years as he sought a new trial. The American Jewish Committee, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Men of Reform Judaism and Union for Reform Judaism were among those filing a joint amicus brief in support of Halprin's 2019 appeal, and more than 100 Jewish lawyers in Texas signed on.

The brief made the case that the appeal was not about Halprin's guilt, but about Cunningham's antisemitism.

"[T]hose issues are irrelevant, because questions of guilt and punishment follow a fair trial; they do not precede it," it said. "And if Judge Cunningham is the bigot described in the application, a fair trial has not yet happened."

[yankeedoodle]

Jewish death row inmate to be retried after sentencing judge's antisemitism revealed
Texan Randy Halprin was sentenced to death nearly 20 years ago
https://www.thejc.com/news/world/jewish-death-row-inmate-to-be-retried-after-sentencing-judges-antisemitism-revealed-6U4iWAGljm1vYkjEAnNxM5?reloadTime=1664718395115

A convicted murderer could receive a new trial after it was revealed that a presiding judge expressed antisemitic views while sentencing him.

Randy Halprin, a Jewish man from Texas, was sentenced to death in 2003 after being convicted of murdering a police officer during a prison break crime spree near the city of Dallas.

Halprin, who was originally imprisoned for violently assaulting a child, broke out of prison along with six other men, committing a series of violent crimes including robberies and assaults that culminated in the murder of officer Aubrey Hawkins in the city of Irving.

Six of the seven men were eventually caught by Texas authorities and sentenced to death for the murder of Hawkins, with four successful executions taking place since 2003.

Now Halprin, one of the two culprits still alive, could be granted a new trial after the local district attorney filed a petition to vacate his conviction after witnesses at his sentencing testified that they heard the judge use antisemitic language.

Vickers Cunningham, the sentencing judge, was allegedly heard describing the defendants as "the Mexican, the queer, and the Jew" and also reportedly called Halprin: "the goddamn kike" and "the Jew."

In a statement, Tivon Schard, Halprin's lawyer, said that he was grateful to the eyewitnesses "who bravely performed their civic duty in a difficult case left no doubt that Judge Cunningham harbored antisemitic bias towards Randy Halprin."

Earlier this week the District Attorney in charge of the case urged judges to overturn the conviction and give Halprin a new trial saying that Cunningham: "harboured actual bias against him at the time of trial."