Former Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins, middle, and then-first Assistant D.A. Heath Harris, left, walk into the Walls Unit in Huntsville for the 2012 execution of George Rivas. Harris is now defending another member of the Texas Seven, Randy Halprin, and his presence at Rivas’ execution may be a conflict of interest, according to prosecutors.(Brad Loper / Staff Photographer)
A defense attorney for Texas Seven escapee Randy Halprin says he will fight to stay on the high-profile capital murder case, despite efforts from the district attorney to have him disqualified over a possible conflict of interest.
Prosecutors filed a 60-page motion late Thursday to remove Heath Harris from Halprin’s defense because he attended the execution of George Rivas, who masterminded the December 2000 prison break. At the time of Rivas’ 2012 execution, Harris was first assistant under former District Attorney Craig Watkins.
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WATCH HEREHalprin 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 robbery. Halprin was convicted and sentenced to death 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.
At a hearing Friday, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said he is reluctant to turn over evidence to defense lawyers until state District Judge Lela Lawrence Mays rules on whether Harris can represent Halprin. The 25-year-old case has more than a hundred boxes of evidence and paperwork that has not been digitized, lawyers said.
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