DA: Death row inmate should get new trial over judge's bias

HOUSTON (AP) — 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 is one step closer to getting a new trial after prosecutors agreed with defense claims that the judge who presided over his case held antisemitic views.

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 co-defendants.

Halprin, 45, was among the 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.