A Jewish death row inmate may get a new trial after a Texas court ruled the sentencing judge was antisemitic

• A Jewish man on death row may get a new trial because the sentencing judge was found to be antisemitic.
• Judge Vickers Cunningham held "deep-seated animosity and prejudice" toward Jews, a judge found.

A Jewish man in Texas who has spent nearly two decades on death row and narrowly avoided execution in 2019, may get a new trial, amid mounting evidence that his sentencing judge was antisemitic.

In 2003, Dallas County District Judge Vickers "Vic" Cunningham sentenced Randy Halprin, a member of the notorious "Texas 7," to death.

On Monday, more than 18 years later, Judge Lela Lawrence Mays ruled that Cunningham's "unmistakable bias against Jewish people" factored into his decision in Halprin's case, and recommended he be granted a new trial.

"The evidence before this Court shows it is far more likely that Judge Cunningham held deep-seated animosity and prejudice toward Jewish people, that he acquired this animosity before Halprin's trial, and that he used anti-Semitic slurs when referring to Halprin...," Mays wrote in a 58-page finding.

Halprin's case now heads back to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Cunningham's apparent racism and prejudice came to the forefront in 2018, after reporters with the Dallas Morning News questioned the longstanding judge about allegations that he employed a living trust that financially benefit his kids if they married someone Caucasian, Christian, and of the opposite sex.

"I strongly support traditional family values, that if you marry a person of the opposite sex, that's Caucasian, that's Christian, they will get a distribution," Cunningham said on the video.

The outlet's coverage prompted Halprin's lawyer to revisit his case, Dallas attorney Stuart Blaugrund told The Washington Post.

"Now there's evidence the judge may be a bigot," Blaugrund told the outlet. "A lot of bigots tend to be equal opportunity bigots."

Following a slate of witness interviews in 2019, Halprin's lawyers were able to win a stay of execution for their client who was set to be put to death on October 10, 2019. The legal team alleged Halprin's right to due process was violated by Cunningham's alleged antisemitism, and the team found additional backing from several Jewish groups and lawyers.

A new judge for the Dallas County District Court, Mays, heard arguments this summer.

In her ruling, Mays determined that Cunningham used "reprehensible" religious and ethnic slurs and called the evidence against him "chilling." She added that Cunningham "took satisfaction from his role in Halprin's death sentence," given the defendant's Jewish heritage.

Tivon Schardl, one of Halprin's lawyers, celebrated Mays' decision and told the Morning News that he was confident Halprin would be granted a new trial.

Cunningham has denied making privately racist and antisemitic comments, according to court documents. The judge did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Multiple witnesses said Cunningham frequently used the n-word as well as slurs to describe Jewish people and Latinos, The Post reported.

Cunningham oversaw the trials for all seven members of the "Texas 7" - a group of inmates who escaped prison in 2000 and committed a series of crimes that ended in the murder of a police officer. He sentenced all seven men to death.

One of the judge's friends told investigators that Cunningham "took special pride" in the death sentences he handed down to the "Texas 7" because the group included Latinos and Jews.

Halprin was serving a 30-year sentence for child injury when he joined forces with the other inmates. He was arrested and charged in the police officer's death but said he did not "intend" the officer to die and denied shooting him.

Cunningham left the bench in 2005 to run for district attorney, according to The Post.