ENTRY: "Texas District Attorney Recommends New Trial for Jewish Death-Row Prisoner Tried Before Anti-Semitic Judge," published by The Death Penalty Information Centre on September 29, 2022.
GIST: "A Texas district attorney has asked a Dallas judge to overturn the capital murder conviction of Jewish death-row prisoner Randy Halprin because of the virulent anti-Semitism of the judge who presided over his trial and death sentence.
On September 27, 2022, the second day of the Jewish high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson filed a legal memorandum with proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law that recommended Halprin be granted a new trial because his trial judge, Vickers Cunningham, “harbored actual bias against him at the time of trial.”
Halprin was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer who responded to a robbery committed by a group of escaped prisoners, later dubbed the “Texas 7,” in 2000. During a three-day evidentiary hearing on August 29–31, 2022, five of Cunningham’s friends and family members testified that Cunningham repeatedly used anti-Semitic slurs to refer to Halprin, who is Jewish.
They testified that Cunningham described Halprin and his co-defendants as “the Mexican, the queer, and the Jew” and said “I’m going to get them all the death penalty.” He derisively called Halprin “the g*dd**n k*ke” and “the Jew.” Of the Texas 7, he said “Every one of them knew when they stepped foot in my courtroom, from the Jew to the wetb**k, they were going down.”
“Here, [Halprin] has established a Due Process Clause violation based on the structural error of judicial bias in the form of an actual, subjective bias on the part of the judge at the time of trial,” Wilson wrote in the proposed findings.
Cunningham’s repeated use of religious epithets to describe Halprin “supports the inference that Judge Cunningham’s state of mind at the time of trial overcomes the presumption ‘that the trial court was neutral, detached, and unbiased in all phases of the trial.’”
Cunningham’s comments, she wrote, “demonstrate[ ] actual bias against [Halprin] at the time of trial because [Halprin] is Jewish.”
“Today’s filing by the office of Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Sharen Wilson sends a clear message: the Constitution guarantees a fair trial before a fair court, and in the State of Texas, neither the prosecution, nor the defense, nor any reviewing court can let stand a judgment handed down by a biased judge,” said Tivon Schardl, Halprin’s attorney.
“Witnesses who bravely performed their civic duty in a difficult case left no doubt that Judge Cunningham harbored anti-Semitic bias towards Randy Halprin during his capital murder trial.”
Cunningham’s bigotry was not limited to the time of trial.
The witnesses also testified that during a subsequent failed run for Dallas County District Attorney in 2005–2006, Cunningham had said he was running “to save Dallas County from the n*****s and the wetb**ks and the Jews,” called Halprin “Randy the Jew” and Innocence Project co-founder Barry Scheck “the Jew Scheck,” and described different people as “a lying Jew,” “a greedy Jew,” or a “filthy Jew.”
The hearing is the second time a Dallas Criminal Court judge has been asked to determine whether Cunningham’s conduct entitles Halprin to a new trial.
In a statement of findings released on October 11, 2021 based on witness affidavits, Dallas Criminal District Court Judge Lela Mays wrote that “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.” The “only remedy” for Halprin, Mays said, is “a new fair trial.”
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed that ruling and remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing, saying that live testimony was necessary before the court could conclude that Cunningham was biased.
Halprin is one of two living members of the “Texas 7,” along with Patrick Murphy, who is also on death row. One of the escapees killed himself to avoid capture by police. The other four have already been executed, including Joseph Garcia, who was Latino, and Michael Rodriguez, who was both Latino and Jewish. Both men were tried by Cunningham and were members of groups against who he harbored racial or religious animus.
Although Halprin was tried in Dallas County, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is now handling his prosecution because Cunningham’s daughter works for the Dallas County District Attorney."
The entire story can be read at:
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/texas-district-attorney-recommends-new-trial-for-jewish-death-row-prisoner-tried-before-anti-semitic-judge
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Read also Reporter Chuck Lindell's April 6, 2022 'Statesman' - at the link below headed, "2nd Texas death row case gets extra attention from Supreme Court:
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "(Justice Sonia) Sotomayor wrote Monday that although Halprin’s lawyers raised “potent arguments” and the case presented “deeply disturbing” claims, she agreed with the decision to reject Halprin’s appeal, saying it was not yet ready for the high court’s review."
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GIST: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Texas death row inmate Randy Halprin, a Jewish man who is seeking a new trial over claims of anti-Semitic bias by his trial judge.
And for the second time in 2020, Justice Sonia Sotomayor took the unusual step of issuing a statement accompanying the denial of a Texas death penalty case.
Sotomayor wrote Monday that although Halprin’s lawyers raised “potent arguments” and the case presented “deeply disturbing” claims, she agreed with the decision to reject Halprin’s appeal, saying it was not yet ready for the high court’s review.
Halprin was six days from receiving a lethal injection when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals interceded in October and ordered a District Court in Dallas County to investigate allegations that anti-Semitism affected his trial.
With no current execution date and with that review underway, Halprin’s case before the Supreme Court could be rendered moot if the Texas courts agreed to grant a new trial, Sotomayor wrote.
The justice also bluntly reminded Texas judges that the Constitution requires a fair trial before a judge with no actual bias against a defendant.
“I trust that the Texas courts considering Halprin’s case are more than capable of guarding this fundamental guarantee,” Sotomayor wrote.
The statement followed a similar notice given in February, when Sotomayor urged Texas courts to conduct a “full and fair” examination of evidence that raised questions about the guilt of death row inmate Rodney Reed of Bastrop.
Reed’s lawyers had presented substantial evidence that, if true, casts doubt on his conviction in the 1996 strangulation murder of Stacey Stites, Sotomayor wrote, adding that no Texas court has conducted a concerted review of that evidence.
“In my view, there is no escaping the pall of uncertainty over Reed’s conviction,” she wrote. “Misgivings this ponderous should not be brushed aside.”
The Supreme Court typically rejects cases without comment, and Sotomayor was the only justice to publish a statement in the decisions involving Halprin and Reed.
Halprin, part of a group of escaped prisoners known as the Texas Seven, was sentenced to death for his role in the slaying of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins during a holdup of an Irving sporting goods store by escapees in 2000.
Defense lawyers are seeking a new trial for Halprin, 42, arguing that the judge at his 2003 trial, Vickers Cunningham, privately disparaged Halprin with anti-Semitic slurs and reveled in sentencing Jews and people of color to death or harsh punishments.
Cunningham, who is no longer a judge, has denied the allegations.
In her statement, Sotomayor — who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009 — said Monday’s denial of Halprin’s case carried “no implication whatever” about the court’s views of the merits of his arguments.
If he’s unhappy with the way the Texas courts ultimately rule, Halprin could still bring his claims to the Supreme Court, she said.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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