A North Texas man who claimed he wasn't the shooter in a fatal robbery that killed two people nearly 18 years ago and who said prosecutors misused rap lyrics he wrote to secure his death sentence was executed Thursday evening, the AP reports. James Broadnax was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston. Earlier Thursday, the US Supreme Court denied a request by Broadnax's attorneys to stop his execution. A number of A-list rappers, including Travis Scott, T.I. and Killer Mike, had filed briefs at the Supreme Court in support of Broadnax's appeal.
He was condemned 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 Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler's recording studio in Garland. Cummings was sentenced to life without parole. Prosecutors said Broadnax, 37, confessed to the shooting, telling reporters during jailhouse interviews that "I pulled the trigger" and that he had no remorse. His lawyers had focused his final appeals on two issues: Cummings had recently confessed to being the shooter; and Broadnax's constitutional rights were violated because prosecutors eliminated potential jurors during his trial on the basis of race.
"I'm really gonna tell it like it's supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer. I shot Matthew Bullard, Steve Swan," Cummings said recently from prison in a video created as part of the efforts to stop Broadnax's execution. His attorneys also alleged prosecutors dismissed all seven potential Black jurors on the basis of their race, "utilizing a spreadsheet during jury selection that bolded only the names of every Black juror," according to court documents. One Black juror was later reinstated to the jury. Broadnax was Black. Broadnax's attorneys had argued in an earlier appeal that prosecutors had violated his constitutional rights by using some of the rap lyrics he wrote to portray him as a violent and dangerous person in order to secure a death sentence.
Broadnax was defiant in a final statement in which he also sought forgiveness from the victims' relatives. Seven relatives, including parents of each of the victims, were present. The execution also was punctuated by screams of "I love you" from his wife, who also was among witnesses to the punishment. She was emotional at times during the procedure, leaning up to the death chamber window with arms spread, and had to be helped out of the prison. As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began, Broadnax urged his supporters to keep fighting. "Don't give up," he said, and was stopped mid-sentence by a gasp. He shook his head briefly and all movement stopped.
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