New jabs traded ahead of hearing about Harris County judge's involvement in death penalty case

ByJessica Willey

Thursday, January 9, 2025 1:27PM

New jabs traded about judge's involvement in death penalty case

"Something is rotten in Denmark," the state wrote in a Dec. 20 motion. The judge is accused of having improper communication with a defense attorney in a death penalty case.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- On the eve of the next round of the state's effort to get a Harris County District Court judge taken off a death penalty case, the exchange of criticism is ratcheting up.

In motions and responses filed since last month, attorneys have traded barbs and accusations. The state wants Judge Natalia Cornelio of the 351st District Court removed from presiding over the appeal of Ronald Haskell. A hearing on the issue is scheduled to continue Thursday.

"Something is rotten in Denmark," wrote Joshua Reiss of the Post-Conviction Writs Division in a motion filed on Dec. 20, 2024.

Defense counsel Christi Dean called the motion "hyperbole" and a "continuing pattern of antagonism" in her response filed on Jan. 2, 2025.

Haskell was given the death penalty in 2019 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.

Last October, Haskell, unbeknownst to the state, was ordered back to Harris County by Cornelio on a bench warrant for a hearing that never took place.

Instead, he spent three weeks in the Harris County Jail. During that time, he was taken to a private imaging clinic near the Texas Medical Center for an MRI. Photographs included in court filings show the killer just feet away from another patient. Prosecutors claimed he was not handcuffed.

A judge is accused of bias after a "secretive" order to return a death row inmate to the Harris County Jail.

The state has accused Cornelio, a vocal opponent of the death penalty before her time on the bench, of improperly communicating with Dean to make it all happen. Last month, in an unprecedented move, the Harris County District Attorney's Office sent a subpoena to Cornelio for all email correspondence with Dean from June to August regarding the bench warrant.

In the Dec. 20 motion, the state doubled down, writing, "False entries are not usually made in bench warrants."

Dean fired back and accused the state of "orchestrating a circus-like atmosphere of litigation, replete with multiple media interviews." She also wrote that the State has "repeatedly attacked, denigrated, and ascribed ill-intent to Judge Cornelio."

Prosecutors are looking to recuse Judge Natalia Cornelio after allegations that she was biased in favor of a death row inmate.

Transcripts show a tense relationship.

University of Houston law professor Sandra Guerra Thompson provided context.

"It's usually defendants who are challenging the impartiality of a judge," she said. "In general, it's usually not a good strategy to antagonize a judge, and it's also just not something that we would we see because we normally have pretty high standards of decorum."

The administrative judge in the case, Judge Susan Brown, is expected to rule on some of the motions on Thursday, including whether the state gets to see Cornelio's emails.

For more on this story, follow Jessica Willey on Facebook, X and Instagram.