He referred to the Latino defendants as "w*****ks." In general, Judge Cunningham said about his service on the bench, "any 'n******' or 'w*****k' walking into his courtroom knew they were going to go down."
Tivon Schardl, supervising assistant federal defender for the capital habeas unit in the Western District of Texas says "trial judges have immense influence on the way jurors receive evidence. Everything from their rulings on objections to their facial expressions. Their influence is profound."
He adds "We're very glad the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals sent a solid message today that bigotry won't be tolerated in the criminal justice system in Texas."
Cunningham presided over all six of the trials and four men have been executed. Three were Latino.
Halprin had been set to die next Thursday, October 10th. Schardl says the case will now return to the trial court in Dallas, where they'll ask Halprin to get a new trial.