US EditionTexas man executed as his cousin claims he was shooter in fatal 2008 robbery
His cousin’s confession and claims of racial bias failed to halt the execution after the U.S. Supreme Court and Texas officials rejected last appeals.
- 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.
84 Articles
84 Articles
A North Texas man faces execution as his cousin claims he was the shoo
HOUSTON (AP) — A North Texas man who claims he was not the shooter in a fatal robbery that killed two people nearly 18 years ago and who says prosecutors misused rap lyrics he wrote to secure his death sentence faced execution Thursday evening. James Broadnax was sentenced to death for the 2008 shooting deaths of two men outside a suburban Dallas music studio. Prosecutors say Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, fatally shot and robbed St…
Texas EXECUTES Rapper Over His Own Lyrics…
James Broadnax was executed in Texas after prosecutors used over 40 pages of his handwritten rap lyrics to send him to death row, sparking a fierce debate about whether creative expression should become a death warrant. When Creative Expression Becomes a Confession The state of Texas executed James Broadnax on April 30, 2026, closing a chapter in one of the most controversial intersections of art and criminal justice. Broadnax was 19 when he and…
Texas Executes James Broadnax Amidst Racial Bias Controversy And New Evidence
The execution of James Broadnax in Texas highlights the complexities surrounding capital punishment and reignites critical discussions about racial bias within the legal system. Broadnax was put to death by lethal injection after being convicted of a 2008 double murder during a robbery. This case, filled with allegations of racial discrimination and dubious evidence, raises questions about the integrity of the judicial process. Scheduled for Thu…
Death row wife's horror cry after watching execution of killer she never met
James Broadnax, 37, was executed by lethal injection at a Texas state prison after being convicted of the 2008 fatal shootings of two Christian music producers, just days after marrying UK law graduate Tiana Krasniqi, a penpal he had never met in person.
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…
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