Overview
- James Broadnax, 37, was put to death by lethal injection in Huntsville and pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. CDT on Thursday for the 2008 murders of Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler.
- His execution moved forward after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a final stay on Thursday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected clemency earlier in the week, and Gov. Greg Abbott issued no reprieve.
- Broadnax’s lawyers cited a March confession from co-defendant Demarius Cummings and said only Cummings’ DNA was found on the gun and a victim, but courts declined to reopen the case because the new claims were filed too late.
- The defense also challenged jury selection and the use of Broadnax’s rap lyrics at sentencing, drawing briefs from prominent artists, while the Texas attorney general’s office called the race-based jury claims meritless.
- Courts repeatedly noted Broadnax’s post-arrest media confessions and lack of a formal recantation, even as he used his final statement to insist the state “got it wrong.”