The attorney representing Randy Halprin will remain on his defense team, despite witnessing the execution of another member of the Texas Seven, a judge ruled Monday.
The Dallas County district attorney’s office wanted lawyer Heath Harris kicked off the case, arguing his work as a former prosecutor disqualified him from representing Halprin. But state District Judge Lela Lawrence Mays said there wasn’t proof the purported conflict of interest merited removing Harris.
Harris previously held a high-ranking position in former District Attorney Craig Watkins’ istration. Harris, alongside Watkins, attended the 2012 lethal injection of George Rivas, the man described as masterminding the prison break. In their 60-page motion from March, prosecutors also painted a picture that Harris was involved in the Texas Seven’s post-conviction proceedings.
Harris has said he had no involvement in Halprin’s prosecution decades ago and that he would zealously fight to stay on the case; at a hearing last week, Harris testified in his own defense — and cross-examined himself.
“I never thought there was a conflict,” Harris told The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. “I didn’t do any work on the Texas Seven case — I’m trying to work as hard as I can to separate (Halprin) from the actions from the Texas Seven.”
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment on the ruling.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot confirmed to The News last week that prosecutors will seek the death penalty. Halprin asked “why me” in response to the decision to pursue capital punishment, according to Harris. Creuzot has not asked for death since taking office in 2019.
Halprin was one of seven men who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy and fatally shot Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins during a Christmas Eve 2000 robbery.
Halprin has said he did not fire his gun when the officer was shot 11 times and run over behind an Oshman’s Sporting Goods store. He was convicted and sentenced to death based on Texas’ law of parties — which allows for anyone participating in a crime to be held able — but the state’s highest criminal appeals court granted Halprin, who is Jewish, a new trial because the judge at his 2003 capital murder trial harbored antisemitic views.
Harris said the defense will show Halprin was manipulated and coerced by Rivas.
All of the Texas Seven were sentenced to death except for Larry Harper, who died by suicide to avoid capture in Colorado in January 2001. Four were executed, and one man remains on death row.
A trial date has yet to be set, and it is unclear when the 25-year-old case could go before a jury.
The latest ruling is the finale to a spate of legal challenges over conflicts of interest. Prosecutors first sought to oust Harris and then the DA’s office wanted to recuse itself because a prosecutor worked for a law firm that handled Halprin’s post-conviction defense two decades ago.
Jim Coleman, a professor at Duke University’s law school who runs the Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility, said a judge should err on the side of not making a mistake that could be appealed: “Capital cases are not where you want to be out on the cutting edge of the law, particularly one with a long history where there have been errors.”
“Why not cure something before it can become an issue?” he said. “Why would you force relationships that might appear questionable?”
Brian Owsley, an associate professor at UNT Dallas College of Law, said the DA’s office appeared to ask to recuse itself in good faith and the judge exercised her discretion. If he’s convicted, Halprin has waived his right to appeal based on the DA’s alleged conflict, according to court records.
People facing death should have lawyers they are confident in, said Bruce Green, a professor and director of the Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham University’s law school.
“If there’s no objection from the defendant — and they want this lawyer — and the lawyer thinks they can do a good job, then interfering in that relationship is problematic,” Green said.