Overview
- James Broadnax, who is scheduled for execution on April 30, 2026, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the sentence and review how prosecutors used his rap writings as evidence.
- At the 2009 capital sentencing, prosecutors submitted about 40 pages of Broadnax’s lyrics to argue “future dangerousness,” a Texas requirement that asks jurors to predict if a defendant will be violent later.
- His lawyers say the trial judge should have warned jurors not to read the lyrics as autobiography and should have addressed racial bias after a voir dire that left a nearly all-white jury.
- A-list rappers including Travis Scott, T.I., and Killer Mike filed briefs backing Broadnax, while Texas prosecutors defend the lyrics’ relevance and say he failed to raise some objections earlier.
- Policy efforts have gained ground after Maryland passed protections on April 9 that tighten when art can enter trials, as research shows courts across 40-plus states have used rap in hundreds of cases and experiments find the same words seem more dangerous when labeled rap.