News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

'Texas Seven' Member Wins Stay Of Execution Amid Claim Of Anti-Semitic Judge

Associated Press
Randy Halprin, seen here in 2003, was scheduled for execution on Oct. 10.

Editor's note: This story contains explicit language.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Randy Halprin on Friday, less than a week before he was to be put to death.

Halprin, one of the infamous "Texas Seven" — who were convicted in the 2000 murder of a police officer during a month-long prison escape — had recently argued that his trial was biased because his judge was "a racist and anti-Semitic bigot."

Halprin, who is Jewish, said in his latest appeal that former Judge Vickers Cunningham had described Halprin as “a fuckin’ Jew” and “goddamn kike” shortly after the trial. Cunningham also admitted to putting stipulations in his will that his children could only receive inheritance by marrying a straight, white Christian, as was first reported by The Dallas Morning News in 2018.

The Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’ highest criminal court, stopped Halprin’s execution, set for next Thursday, and sent the case back to the Dallas County trial court for further review of the claims.

Halprin’s was the second Texas execution stopped by different courts in two days. On Thursday, a Henderson County court withdrew the execution date of Randall Mays, set for Oct. 16, to review his mental competence.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.

Jolie McCullough develops data interactives and news apps and reports on criminal justice issues for the Texas Tribune. She came to the Tribune in early 2015 from the Albuquerque Journal, where her work as a web designer and developer earned her national recognition. She was at the Journal for four years and specialized in interactive maps and data-driven special projects. She is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication; while there, she interned as a reporter and online producer at the Arizona Republic and served as the web editor of the student-run newspaper, the State Press.