The motion for District Court Judge Natalia Cornelio to recuse was filed Oct. 7, "based on conduct indicating that she has cast aside her role as a neutral, detached decision maker to become an advocate for death row inmate Ronald Lee Haskell," it reads.
Haskell was given the death penalty in 2019. He was charged with six counts of capital murder for the shooting deaths of six 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, and their parents, Katie and Stephen Stay. Katie was the sister of Haskell's ex-wife, whom he stalked, authorities said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Spring family's killer sentenced to death for 2014 massacre
Court records show that on June 27, Cornelio issued a bench warrant for Haskell to appear in her courtroom a month later at midnight.
The DA's office said that never happened, and they had no idea Haskell had been moved from TDCJ custody.
Instead, during Haskell's nearly three-week stay at the Harris County Jail, he called his mother, acknowledging the secretive nature of his presence, calling it "cloak and dagger," according to a jail call transcript.
He was also taken to a private imaging clinic near the Texas Medical Center for a scan as seen in still images from body camera video that were filed with the court.
Drue Lyon is Katie Stay's brother.
"The inmate was feet -- three or four feet -- away from some random guy sitting at the doctor's office, waiting for his name to be called. Did that guy know he was feet away from a mass murderer?" Lyon asked. "Who on Earth has that much power and authority? Who authorized that?"
Cornelio did not respond to ABC13's request for comment. A hearing on the recusal motion is scheduled for next week.
"We believe her actions reflect that she is biased in favor of Ronald Haskell," said Joshua Reiss, the Chief of the DA's Post-Conviction Writs Division. "This was a brutal, brutal mass murder. Four children were killed. Everybody needs to have faith that the system is even-handed and fair and right now we believe, based on what we discovered, it is not fair."
SEE ALSO: Spring woman who played dead while family was shot execution-style takes stand in uncle's trial
Lyon said this development just torments him and his family.
"I think there is a personal agenda that is above and beyond the law and that shouldn't be," he said.
Haskell's defense attorney, Christina Dean, did not respond to questions, but defended the judge.
"Nothing about Judge Cornelio's alleged actions or rulings that are the subject of the State's second motion to recuse suggests that (1) her impartiality might reasonably be questioned or (2) that she harbors a personal bias or prejudice concerning the subject matter or party. Courts enjoy a "presumption of judicial impartiality," she wrote in a response to the recusal request.
RELATED: Murder defendant told investigators, "I'm just not right in the head"
For more on this story, follow Jessica Willey on Facebook, X and Instagram.