A British single mum who married a death row inmate has revealed prison staff cried during his execution, which she described in harrowing detail.
Double killer James Broadnax, 37, died in Huntsville, Texas, after a dose of lethal injection on April 30 of this year. Just two weeks beforehand, he married British law graduate Tiana Broadnax, who was also present for his final moments. The now heartbroken widow still insists that her husband is innocent after he was sentenced to die for gunning down music producers Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, outside a studio in Dallas in 2008.
Execution Day Details
Speaking to LADbible Stories about the day of the execution, Tiana said: “He had been crying. He had been crying so much. I didn’t even know what to do.” She later added: “I got him his favourite Powerade and beef jerky because he couldn’t eat. So I said ‘just eat something’ and he was just crying. And I’ll never forget. He leaned back and he said, ‘I never knew how loved I could be. I never knew I was worthy of being fought for.’”
Tiana, who is from London, met Broadnax during her human rights law studies. She recalled the moment she entered the execution room: “[I] turn left. It was a small room, no chairs and I just see him lay down strapped, belt, belt, belt, a bedsheet on him because he had belts all over his body and he was cross armed. He was in a crucifix style. And again, soon as I turn left, he turns and we both look at each other in the eyes and I drop and I scream.”
Last Words and Final Moments
She was warned that she would be arrested if she banged on the window, and she added that the scariest bit was that her husband, who had plastic coverings on top of his arms, looked like a “flipping experiment”. Tiana said her husband could hear her through the window and she repeatedly told him she loved him and was “sorry for failing” him, to which he replied: “No, baby, don’t blame yourself, stop blaming yourself.”
His last statement was then read out, with Tiana recalling: “He was like, ‘I love you queen, don’t give up, I love you queen, don’t give up.’ As he said ‘don’t’, his head jerked back and he went [gasping noise] and then his eyes rolled up and he dropped. And I screamed.” She said she then had to wait a further 20 minutes where she watched her husband die while his lips and face turned blue and bulging veins appeared on his forehead.
Aftermath and Final Farewell
After being pronounced dead, she asked staff to “get me the hell out of here” before she was taken to the funeral home where she was allowed 20 minutes with the body. She arrived before her husband, and she recalled: “I saw the funeral car. I started running after the funeral car. I was acting crazy at that point. I lost sense of reality. And the spiritual advisor, the warden, who had been crying himself, they grabbed me and they took me to the door, said, ‘You have 20 minutes with the body.’ I walked down the altar. It was a chapel, chairs, altar, and the pulpit at the front. And my husband was in a gurney.”
In those final moments, which was the first time she had been able to physically touch her husband, she told him: “You are at peace now.”
