Harris County District Attorney issues subpoena to judge in death penalty appeal

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The Harris County District Attorney's Office wants the emails of a criminal court judge whom they believe had improper communication with a defense attorney in a death penalty case, and in a rare move, they served her with a subpoena.

This week, Josh Reiss, the Chief Prosecutor of the Post-Conviction Writs Division, confirmed to ABC13 that the State sent a subpoena to Judge Natalia Cornelio of the 351st District Court. The subpoena seeks all email correspondence with Ronald Haskell's attorney from June to August regarding the bench warrant and order that secretly brought Haskell, a death row inmate, back to Harris County for three weeks earlier this year.

Haskell himself called it "cloak and dagger" in a jail call to his mother.

The DA's office believes the judge had improper communication and should be removed from Haskell's appeal. They are seeking evidence for a recusal hearing scheduled for Jan. 9.

"Subpoenaing another judge's email, on a scale of 1 to 10, is a strong 9.5," legal analyst Brian Wice said. "It's an outlier. It's a black swan. It's something I don't think I have seen in 45 years of doing what I do."

Haskell was given the death penalty in 2019 for the shooting deaths of 6 of his family members at their Spring home in 2014. The crime was described as a "massacre," and the victims included four children, ages four to 13, their parents, and Katie and Stephen Stay. Katie was the sister of Haskell's ex-wife, whom he stalked, authorities said.

ABC13 first reported on the recent developments in the Haskell case in October. Haskell was ordered back to Harris County by Judge Cornelio for a hearing at midnight that never took place. Instead, he was taken to a private imaging clinic near the medical center for an MRI. Pictures included in court filings show him feet away from another patient and state that he was not handcuffed. Reiss said they found out about Haskell's break from prison because Katie Stay's brother was notified that he had left death row.

In general, judges are not supposed to communicate with only one side of a case unless without the other side knowing, Wice said.

Cornelio has been a vocal opponent of the death penalty and has stepped down in at least one other case but it was not a capital offense, he added.

"I think we need to ask ourselves why is this judge hanging on for dear life? Why hasn't this judge, as she has in at least one other case, voluntarily walked away?" Wice asked.

Cornelio did not respond to a request for comment.

Wice said in Texas, the attorney general represents judges in their official capacity, which means the attorney for Cornelio, a Democrat, will come from the office of Ken Paxton, a Republican.

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