US EditionTexas man executed as his cousin claims he was shooter in fatal 2008 robbery
His final appeals failed after courts rejected claims that his cousin’s confession and DNA evidence proved he was not the shooter.
- On Thursday, Texas executed 37-year-old James Broadnax at the Huntsville Unit after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeals. Broadnax had spent nearly 20 years on death row for the 2008 murders of two men in Garland.
- Broadnax's attorneys focused his final appeals on a recent confession by co-defendant Demarius Cummings, who claimed he was the shooter. Lawyers also alleged prosecutors dismissed all potential Black jurors using a spreadsheet that bolded only their names.
- Citing the 1986 Batson v. Kentucky ruling, defense attorneys argued that excluding jurors based on race violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Texas Attorney General countered these claims were "entirely meritless" due to jury questioning.
- The Texas Board denied Broadnax's request for a 180-day reprieve on Tuesday. State prosecutors dismissed Cummings' confession as "questionable new evidence," clearing the path for execution.
- About an hour before Broadnax's execution, Florida put to death James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, for beating and choking his 13-year-old step-niece to death. The concurrent executions marked a significant day in capital punishment across two states.
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76 Articles
Tiana Krasniqi, a 31-year-old British woman of Albanian origin, was set to marry James Broadnax, who was on death row in Texas for the 2008 murders of two film producers. Tiana and Broadnax had built a deep relationship through letters and phone calls, but her bad luck was that the relationship would not last long. James Broadnax, 37, was pronounced dead on Thursday after he was executed by lethal injection by authorities in Huntsville, about 70…
James Broadnax Executed After Cousin Confesses To Being The Shooter
Source: Action Network / actionnetwork.org On Thursday evening, James Broadnax was executed by the state of Texas despite his cousin, Demarius Cummings, confessing that he was the one who actually killed the two men Broadnax was accused of killing. The Texas Tribune reports that the 37-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m., with his execution via lethal injection occurring only hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal. Br…
Corsicana Daily Sun
Texas executes James Broadnax after Supreme Court rejects final appeal tied to cousin’s confession
Texas death row inmate James Broadnax was executed Thursday evening hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal citing his codefendant’s confession.
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