Randy Halprin was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a police officer during a prison escape. Randy Halprin was a member of the Texas Seven, a group who would escape from a Texas prison and during an armed robbery would murder a police officer. Randy Halprin and Patrick Murphy are the only surviving members as four have been executed and one committed suicide during a police standoff. Randy Halprin was sentenced to death.
The Supreme Court is declining to take up the case of a Texas death row inmate who argued he should get a new trial because the judge who presided over his case was biased against Jews.
The justices said they would not hear the case of Randy Halprin. He’s one of the so-called Texas 7.
Lawyers for Halprin said an investigation found that Judge Vickers Cunningham, who presided over his trial, was anti-Semitic and frequently used racial slurs.
Halprin was serving a 30-year sentence for killing an infant when he escaped in 2000 with six other inmates who quickly became known as the Texas 7.
While trying to elude capture, the escapees killed Irving Police Officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve. The 29-year-old officer responded to the robbery of an Irving sporting goods store when he was ambushed by the group, shot 11 times and run over. Trial evidence showed the escapees stole guns and ammunition from the store.
Six of the Texas 7 were captured and convicted after Hawkins’ murder. Four have already been executed. One died by suicide instead of returning to prison.
The other surviving Texas 7 member, Patrick Henry Murphy Jr, was originally scheduled to be executed on March 28, 2019, but received a stay of execution after filing a complaint that Texas Department of Criminal Justice protocol did not allow for a spiritual advisor to be present if the advisor was not an employee of the TDCJ.
Patrick Murphy was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of a police officer during a prison escape. Patrick Murphy was part of the Texas Seven who were in the process of an armed robbery when a police officer was shot and killed. All of the surviving members of the Texas Seven were sentenced to death, one member committed suicide during a standoff with police, only Patrick Murphy and Randy Halprin have yet to be executed.
Patrick Murphy’s execution was again halted Nov. 7because Texas death row inmates’ final access to spiritual advisors of their faith differs for Christians and Buddhists.
Five days later on Nov. 12, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal district judge’s order to stay Murphy’s execution, rejecting an appeal from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Murphy, a 58-year-old Buddhist, is one of two surviving members of the infamous “Texas Seven,” a group of escaped prisoners who committed multiple robberies and killed a police officer near Dallas in 2000 during more than a month on the run. Four others have already been executed, one killed himself when police caught up to them in Colorado, and one other remains on death row with Murphy.
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court took the rare step of stopping Murphy’s execution hours after it was originally scheduled to begin. Murphy had argued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice violated his religious rights by not allowing a Buddhist chaplain into the execution chamber with him. The department only allowed prison employees in the death chamber, and only Christian and Muslim clerics are employed with the state. Often, a Christian advisor would be in the chamber with the prisoner set to die, reading quietly from the Bible with one hand on the inmate’s leg as lethal drugs were injected.
“As this Court has repeatedly held, governmental discrimination against religion — in particular, discrimination against religious persons, religious organizations, and religious speech — violates the Constitution,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion at the time.
In response, the department changed its policy to disallow spiritual advisors in the execution chamber, regardless of their religion. The state then set a new execution date for Nov. 13.
Murphy then went back to federal court, now arguing that the state’s pre-execution procedure still discriminates against Buddhists. According to the Nov. 7 court ruling, all prisoners have access to their spiritual advisor in the 2.5 days before the execution. On the day they are scheduled to die, however, they can only meet with religious advisors not employed by TDCJ between 3 and 4 p.m. Executions are scheduled to begin after 6 p.m., but there are often delays into the evening. Advisors employed by TDCJ, however, are not limited to that one-hour window in the afternoon and “appear to have access to an inmate until the minute he enters the execution chamber,” the district courtruling states. All of TDCJ’s chaplains currently authorized to be with inmates just before their execution are Christian.
TDCJ argued that the protocol doesn’t favor one religion over another, because their chaplains will listen to, help and be a “calming presence” for all inmates regardless of their religious affiliation, the Nov. 7 court order states. They said TDCJ chaplains are encouraged to learn about many religions and may pray with an inmate in his or her faith. But the three Christian chaplains authorized now said they either wouldn’t or were not sure if they would engage in Buddhist chants with an inmate, according to the order.
“Because Murphy believes he can be reborn in the Pure Land and work towards enlightenment only if he is able to remain focused on Buddha while dying, and that being able to chant with his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber would greatly assist him in maintaining this focus, TDCJ’s newly hostile policy violates Murphy’s First Amendment rights,” wrote Murphy’s attorney, David Dow.
U.S. District Judge George Hanks Jr. said in his stay Nov. 7 that Murphy had demonstrated valid concerns about TDCJ’s execution policy.
“The concerns raised by the amended complaint’s focus on the pre-execution procedure are as compelling as those in the original complaint,” he wrote. “If Murphy were Christian, he would have the benefit of faith-specific spiritual support until he entered the execution chamber; as a Buddhist he is denied that benefit
With the stay of execution, Hanks said the court will “explore and resolve serious factual concerns about the balance between Murphy’s religious rights and the prison’s valid concerns for security.”
Murphy was the lookout in the robbery-turned-murder that landed him on death row.
On Christmas Eve in 2000, Murphy remained in the car in front of an Irving sporting goods store, listening to a police scanner while the other six men went inside to rob it, according to court records. He and another escapee later said that Murphy used a two-way radio to warn the others to flee when he heard that police were on their way. As 31-year-old Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins began to drive to the back of the store where the other robbers were, Murphy left the scene on the instruction of the group’s leader.
He said he didn’t find out the other men had shot Hawkins 11 times and run over him in a stolen car until the group reunited later.
The Texas Seven was a prison escape which would became a sensation as the seven men from the Texas Department Of Corrections would basically disappeared. However with the murder of police officer Aubrey Hawkins and the help of America’s Most Wanted this prison escape would come to a sudden end in Colorado. In this article on My Crime Library we are going to take a closer look at the Texas Seven and the murder of Officer Hawkins.
Texas Seven Members
George Rivas was serving a sentence of eighteen consecutive fifteen years to life for a series of armed robberies
Michael Rodriguez was serving a sentence of ninety nine years to life for the contract killing of his wife
Joseph Garcia was serving a sentence of fifty years for murder
Larry Harper was serving a fifty year sentence for sexual assault
Donald Newbury was serving a ninety nine year sentence for armed robbery
Patrick Murphy was serving a fifty year sentence for sexual assault
Randy Halprin was serving a thirty year sentence for injury to a child
Texas Seven Prison Break
The Texas Seven prison break took place on December 13, 2000. The seven members had been planning the prison break for months. On the day of the escape the seven members would overpower a series of Texas Department Of Correction employees including four prison guards, nine maintenance supervisors and three fellow inmates. The group had waited for lunchtime as it was notoriously slow and with less staff present. All of the hostages were stripped and their personal possessions were taken.
Three of the members of the Texas Seven dressed in stolen civilian clothing made their way to the back gate where they were able to enter the gatehouse under the guise of installing video cameras. Once inside they were able to overpower the guards and take control of the gatehouse. The four who had remained inside of the prison called other gatehouses to keep them distracted while the original three stole weapons and tied up their hostages. The remaining four would steal a truck, drive to the gatehouse, pick up the other three and drive out of the prison. It was later learned that Michael Rodriguez father had left them a vehicle near by and the Texas seven would switch vehicles and basically disappear.
The Murder Of Officer Aubrey Hawkins
The prison truck would be found in Kennedy Texas at a Walmart. The Texas Seven were short on cash so they robbed a Radio Shack in the Houston Texas area the next day.
On December 19, 2000 the Texas Seven members would check into a Econo Lodge in the Dallas Fort Worth area and planned their next robbery which was to take place on Christmas Eve
The target was Oshman’s Sporting Goods in Irving Texas. The Texas Seven would enter the store and quickly take over the store by tying up the employees. What they did not know is that an off duty employee was outside of the store and would call 911. While they were inside of the store the Texas Seven would steal forty different types of firearms plus a ton of ammunition.
Officer Aubrey Hawkins was the first responding police officer and he was immediately ambushed by the group. After being shot several times Officer Hawkins was run over at the scene. The Texas Seven would fall off the map until a month later in Colorado
Texas Seven Capture
The Texas Seven were featured on an episode of America’s Most Wanted on January 20, 2001. Several people would call in reporting a group that had been staying at the Coachlight Motel and RV Park in Woodland Park, Colorado. A SWAT team from El Paso Texas and local police officers would arrest George Rivas, Joseph Garcia and Michael Rodriguez sitting in a Jeep within the RV Park. Randy Halprin and Larry Harper were inside of a motorhome. Halprin would surrender peacefully however Larry Harper would take his own life.
The two remaining members were hiding at a Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs. The two would agree to turn themselves in after speaking to the media. Donald Newbury and Patrick Murphy would tell the news reporter on what they fell were abuse and corruption in the Texas Department Of Corrections.
Eventually the six remaining members of the Texas Seven would be extradited back to Texas where they were all charged and later convicted of the Capital Murder of Officer Hawkins and sentenced to death.
Texas Seven Executions
Michael Rodriguez was the first member of the Texas Seven to be executed as he said he was tired of prison life and stopped all of his appeals. Rodriguez would be executed on August 14, 2008. George Rivas would be executed on February 29, 2012. Donald Newbury was executed on February 4, 2015. Joseph Garcia was executed on December 4, 2018.
Randy Halprin and Patrick Murphy are still on Texas Death Row as of 2021. The two remaining members have argued that they served as lookouts and were at the back of the store when Officer Hawkins was murdered.
Texas Seven Videos
Texas Seven More News
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the case of a Texas death row inmate who argued he should get a new trial because the judge who presided over his case was biased against Jews.
The justices said they would not hear the case of Randy Halprin, one of the so-called Texas 7, but Halprin’s claims of bias and that he should get a new trial are still under review by a Texas court.
Halprin and six others escaped from prison in 2000. The group later robbed a sporting goods store in Irving, Texas, fatally shooting responding police officer Aubrey Hawkins as they fled.
Lawyers for Halprin, who is Jewish, said an investigation found that Judge Vickers Cunningham, who presided over his trial, was anti-Semitic and frequently used racial slurs.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the facts Halprin presented are “deeply disturbing” but she nonetheless agreed with the decision not to hear his case. Sotomayor noted that Halprin’s execution has now been stayed while state courts consider whether “bias infected his trial.”
Sotomayor wrote that the Constitution clearly requires a fair trial before an unbiased judge.
“I trust that the Texas courts considering Halprin’s case are more than capable of guarding this fundamental guarantee,” she wrote. She suggested the Supreme Court could still take the case at a later date.
Tivon Schardl, a lawyer for Halprin, said in a statement that lawyers would “continue to seek a new, fair trial.”
A Dallas Morning News story revealed in 2018, when Cunningham was running for county commissioner, that he had created a trust for his children that withheld money if they chose to marry someone who was not white or not Christian. The story also quoted a former campaign worker who said Cunningham used a racial slur to describe black defendants. In response, Cunningham denied ever using the racial slur and said in a statement that his “views on interracial marriage have evolved” since he set up the trust in 2010.
Halprin’s lawyers followed up with an investigation of their own which found that Cunningham used racial slurs not only to talk about African Americans but also to talk about Jews and Latinos. The investigation also found he allegedly threatened not to pay for his daughter’s law school tuition unless she broke up with a Jewish boyfriend.
Halprin and death row inmate Patrick Murphy are the only members of the Texas 7 that are still alive. One of the men committed suicide as authorities closed in on the group following their escape. Four others were convicted and executed. Murphy’s execution has also been stayed.
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