Jewish death row inmate should get new trial due to "antisemitic bias," Texas judge rules
CBSN
A Jewish death row inmate who was part of a gang of prisoners who fatally shot a police officer in 2000 after they had escaped should have his conviction overturned and get a new trial because the judge who presided over his case "harbored antisemitic bias," according to a court ruling.
Lawyers for Randy Halprin have contended that former Judge Vickers Cunningham in Dallas used racial slurs and antisemitic language to refer to the inmate and some of his codefendants.
Halprin, 45, was among the group of inmates known as the "Texas 7," who escaped from a South Texas prison in December 2000 and then committed numerous robberies, including the one in which they shot 29-year-old Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins 11 times, killing him, during the robbery of a sporting goods store.
