The British wife of a death row rapper has described a poignant moment she shared with her husband after his life was ended—the first time they had ever had physical contact. Tiana Broadnax, 31, wept as she watched her husband James, 37, being strapped to a gurney and pumped with a lethal dose of pentobarbital in April. His life was snuffed out nearly 18 years after he was convicted of shooting two Christian music producers dead in 2008. Minutes after the execution, Tiana kissed her husband for the first time when she was allowed to view his body.
Just days before his death, pictures showed Tiana and James beaming as they married, separated by a sheet of bulletproof glass in a maximum-security US prison. James's execution marked the culmination of a whirlwind 18-month romance during which Tiana desperately pleaded for his life. Speaking to the Mirror, Tiana described how she first touched James's skin in a Texas chapel just 40 minutes after his death—the exact spot where they had hoped to say their vows.
Heartbreaking First Touch
Tiana said: "James had said that when he came out of prison the first place he wanted to go was to the altar so we could marry properly. I wanted to walk down the aisle and that was James's dream. But the first time I saw him after he was executed was in the church. So I'm walking down the aisle but it wasn't to get married, it was to see my husband's lifeless body. I forgot that I'm allowed to touch him because in my mind I thought there was still glass between us."
She added: "I kissed him, I hugged him, his body was still warm because it was only 40 minutes after his death. And I had about six or seven police officers surrounding me and then that's when I saw the state of him. He had bruising on his neck and he had a nose bleed. I know it was not a peaceful execution."
Background of the Case
James received the death penalty after he was convicted of killing Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, two white music producers, in a recording studio car park in Dallas, Garland, in 2008. Law student Tiana, a receptionist from Lewisham, south east London, first contacted him through the writeaprisoner.com website in October 2024 while researching racial disparities in the US justice system. She insists she was not looking for romance at the time, but James would spend six hours every day talking to Tiana on the phone using a tablet in his 6ft by 10ft cell while awaiting the lethal injection.
During her first visit to see him, he asked her to marry him. They spent their entire engagement communicating through glass—never holding hands, going for dinner, or kissing. But Tiana said: "We would laugh, joke around, we would eat food. It sounds so sad, but when I visited it was like having a date night, we would get our food and try to make the most of everything that we had available to us. I would dress up and James would make sure he would wash his clothes the night before I visited."
Controversy and Allegations
Tiana claims James was raised into a chaotic life and suffered abuse as a child before he became addicted to drugs. At the time of the 2008 shooting, he had no convictions for violence, only a rap for cannabis possession. His case has attracted attention because of allegations of racism in the Texas justice system. Prominent rappers including Travis Scott, Killer Mike, and Young Thug supported an appeal to spare his life and questioned why prosecutors were allowed to present James's scrawled rap lyrics as evidence at his trial. Critics have also claimed James's trial was racially biased after prosecutors prevented seven black people from serving as jurors. James's case had 11 white jurors and one black juror.
Just weeks before the execution, James's cousin Demarius Cummings confessed to being solely responsible for the murders. Cummings's DNA was found on the murder weapon and inside one of the victims' pockets, according to court filings. Despite a last-minute appeal, the Supreme Court and the parole board denied a stay of execution. On April 30, James was taken to a prison in Huntsville, Texas, and executed as Tiana watched through a glass window.
Haunting Memories
Tiana says she is now haunted by what she saw, unable to sleep or work. The mother-of-one said: "I can't sleep at night. I've spent one night sleeping on the floor. I can be in the car and have flashbacks and I have to talk to myself out of it because I go back into that room watching James suffer. We were talking the whole time in that execution chamber. He groaned so loud and his head flipped back and his eyes rolled back. That's pain. I thought it was going to be peaceful, just like going to sleep. I saw him go blue. I saw his lips go blue. I saw his veins appear. I could see him struggling. That's not peaceful."
So far Texas has put four men to death in 2026 and 600 since the state resumed use of the death penalty in 1982. Tiana is now back in London and in her living room are James's ashes, his three Bibles, and a handprint he left for her among his belongings. The clock above is stopped at 6.47pm, the exact time James died.
Fighting for Justice
Now Tiana is desperate to posthumously clear his name by taking her fight to the Texas Conviction Integrity Unit. She wants to use her story to oppose the death penalty. She said: "I will fight against the death penalty. I share a last name with James now and everybody will know when I'm speaking, when I'm fighting against injustice, whether it be in the UK or the US, everybody will know who my husband was. I'm a very courageous person and I don't give up easy. I'm very loyal, and when I'm committed and I fight, I believe in something, I will fight until I see a change. And that's what my husband always said to me, 'That's what I love about you.'"
Tiana has even contacted Rupert Lowe, the leader of new political party Restore Britain, after he said he supported bringing back capital punishment. Tiana said: "I messaged him and told him how utterly devastating it is. Funnily enough, I haven't heard back."
