Texas execution halted over claims judge was anti-Semitic

HOUSTON (AP) — A Jewish death row inmate who was part of the “Texas 7” gang of escaped prisoners and faced execution in less than a week has won a reprieve after claiming the former judge at his trial was anti-Semitic and frequently used racial slurs.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday granted a stay of execution for Randy Halprin, who had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Oct. 10.

Halprin alleges in his appeal that ex-Dallas County Judge Vickers Cunningham referred to him with anti-Semitic language.

Cunningham declined to comment about the case on Friday.

Halprin was among the inmates who escaped from a South Texas prison in 2000 and committed numerous robberies, including one in which a suburban Dallas police officer was fatally shot.