Commentary: Just courts must be free from religious discrimination

Two years ago, I was honored to join a diverse group of 75 faith leaders to express our concern that religious discrimination and bias had impermissibly corrupted the capital trial of Randy Halprin. A Jewish defendant, Halprin was scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas in October 2019 for his role in the death of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins.

In the months preceding Halprin’s execution date, however, Texans learned the judge who presided over his trial in 2003, Vickers Cunningham, harbored anti-Semitic views and had used appalling anti-Semitic slurs in direct reference to Halprin. Two independent sources presented sworn statements stating the judge took special pride in Halprin’s death sentence specifically because he is a Jew.

Halprin’s lawyers argued their client’s right to legal proceedings free of religious bias had been violated, and the only recourse was a new trial.

Community leaders—including more than 100 Jewish attorneys in Texas, the American Jewish Committee, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, among others—raised a loud outcry. Thankfully, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Halprin’s execution and ordered the convicting court to consider the claim that Judge Cunningham’s bias violated Halprin’s rights to due process of law and to the free exercise of religion.

On Oct. 11, 2021, two years to the day after Halprin faced execution, Judge Lela Lawrence Mays of Dallas determined Cunningham had violated Halprin’s right to a fair trial when he failed to recuse himself for bias. Calling the facts of the case “extreme by any measure,” she recommended the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals throw out the conviction and death sentence Judge Cunningham imposed on Halprin. It is now up to our state’s highest criminal court to decide whether it will accept Judge Mays’ recommendation and grant Halprin the trial free of bias the Constitution guarantees to each of us.

Every Texan should be troubled

The circumstances of Randy Halprin’s trial should trouble every Texan. After considering the undisputed evidence, Judge Mays determined Judge Cunningham harbored deep-seated bias against Halprin because of his Jewish identity.

Religious discrimination and prejudice are wrong anywhere, but particularly in the courtroom.

As Judge Mays writes: “A judge’s religious and racial prejudices are uniquely offensive to the Constitution and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system. Even the slightest influence of racial and religious stereotypes will make a trial fundamentally unfair. A right to a trial free from a judge’s religious and racial bias secures these fundamental principles of equality and religious liberty.”

Religious liberty for all of us depends on the neutrality of anyone who possesses power to decide or influence matters of life and death. Religious liberty is so important, our Founders placed it first among the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans. Across the generations, our institutions have reaffirmed religious liberty as a core American right.

The U.S. Supreme Court has mandated our justice system punish people for what they do, not who they are. This protects me, because as a Christian, my faith is who I am. My Christianity is not a series of activities—like preaching, attending church or leading Bible study. It’s the core of who I am as a human being—who I try to be, what I believe my purpose is. It’s how I understand the world.

Defendants must be judged strictly for their actions, no matter how heinous they may be. Any erosion of this basic right to be judged fairly and neutrally threatens the freedom and safety of all citizens.

In her findings, Judge Mays writes that the testimony of witnesses led her “to conclude that inbred bias was thoroughly situated into the conscious mind of Judge Cunningham, and it is too much to ignore.”

On behalf of people of faith, I urge the good judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals not to ignore Judge Mays’ recommendation of a fair trial for Randy Halprin.

Texas is better than the spewing hatred Judge Mays felt compelled to recount in her decision. Ensuring Halprin receives new legal proceedings, free of religious bias, will help us live up to our ideals—for justice, for liberty and for fairness.

Marv Knox recently retired as the leader of Fellowship Southwest, an ecumenical, interfaith ministry network based in Dallas County. He founded Fellowship Southwest after a four-decade career in Baptist journalism, including almost 20 years as editor of the Baptist Standard in Texas.