Judge won't remove Dallas County DA from Randy Halprin's ‘Texas 7' retrial

Yahoo

22-04-2025

The Brief
A judge ruled against removing the Dallas County District Attorney's Office from the case of "Texas 7" inmate Randy Halprin because of a conflict of interest.
Halprin was granted a new trial for the 2000 death of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins. An appeals court ruled that the judge in his original trial held a strong bias against him because he is Jewish.
The retrial process can now continue as planned.
DALLAS - The judge overseeing the retrial for one of the "Texas 7" inmates has decided not to remove the Dallas County District Attorney's Office from the case.
What's new
Judge Lela Mays denied District Attorney John Creuzot's motion to be recused.
Last week, prosecutors from the DA's office argued that they should be removed from Randy Halprin's retrial because of a possible conflict of interest within their office.
One of the DA's chief prosecutors worked for the law firm that filed Halprin's first challenge to his 2003 conviction. She also visited him in prison back in 2007.
"We've been accused of purposeful delay. But, your honor, we filed this motion to recuse within seven weeks of counsel's appointment here. We have made this decision to file the motion with an eye toward having a fair trial," Assistant DA Shelly Yeatts said during the motion hearing.
What's next
It's unusual for a judge not to accept a DA's request for a recusal. But doing so would have required Judge Mays to appoint a special prosecutor, and the trial would have been reset.
It can now move forward as planned.
One of the next steps will be for Judge Mays to rule on a separate DA motion to have one of Halprin's defense attorneys thrown off the case for a similar conflict of interest.
The backstory
Halprin, who is now 47, was one of seven inmates who became known as the "Texas 7."
In December of 2000, they escaped from a South Texas prison and then committed several robberies, including one at an Irving sporting goods store where they shot and killed 29-year-old Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins.
Halprin is one of only two members of the "Texas 7" still alive.
Larry Harper killed himself before the group was arrested. Four others – Joseph Garcia, Donald Newbury, Michael Rodriguez, and George Rivas – have been executed. Patrick Murphy is still awaiting execution.
What we know
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted Halprin's execution in 2019.
This past November, the court overturned the conviction and ordered that Halprin be given a new trial.
New evidence supported the argument that Judge Vickers Cunningham, who presided over Halprin's original trial, held a strong bias against the defendant because he is Jewish.
"The uncontradicted evidence supports a finding that Cunningham formed an opinion about Halprin that derived from an extrajudicial factor — Cunningham's poisonous antisemitism," the appeals court wrote in its ruling.
Cunningham is now retired from the bench and works as an attorney in a private practice.
He has not commented on Halprin's case.
The Source
The information in this story comes from Dallas County court records, an April 17 court hearing, Associated Press coverage of the appeals court's ruling, and past FOX 4 News coverage.