Man Executed Despite Cousin’s Confession to Being the Shooter

A North Texas man who maintained he was not the gunman in a deadly robbery nearly 18 years ago, and whose legal team argued that rap lyrics he wrote were improperly used against him at trial, was executed Thursday evening, according to the Associated Press.

James Broadnax was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston. Earlier in the day, the US Supreme Court rejected a request from his attorneys to halt the execution. Several well-known rappers, including Travis Scott, T.I., and Killer Mike, had submitted briefs supporting his appeal.

Broadnax had been sentenced to death for the 2008 killings of two men outside a suburban Dallas recording studio. Prosecutors said Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler’s studio in Garland. Cummings received a sentence of life in prison without parole.

According to prosecutors, Broadnax confessed to the shootings during jailhouse interviews, saying he pulled the trigger and expressing no remorse. His attorneys, however, centered their final appeals on two claims: that Cummings had recently admitted to being the shooter, and that Broadnax’s constitutional rights were violated during jury selection because potential jurors were excluded based on race.

In a recent video recorded from prison, Cummings stated that he alone was responsible for the killings. Broadnax’s legal team also alleged that prosecutors removed multiple Black jurors during selection, citing court records that described the use of a spreadsheet highlighting those individuals. One Black juror was ultimately seated. Broadnax was Black.

His attorneys had also argued in earlier appeals that prosecutors improperly used his rap lyrics to portray him as violent in order to secure a death sentence.

In his final statement, Broadnax remained defiant while also asking the victims’ families for forgiveness. Seven relatives of the victims, including their parents, witnessed the execution. His wife, who was also present, became emotional during the procedure and called out to him as it was carried out.

As the sedative pentobarbital was administered, Broadnax urged supporters to continue their efforts. He began speaking but was cut off mid-sentence, gasped, and then stopped moving.

Original Source