A British woman who married a convicted murderer on death row just weeks before his execution has claimed prison staff were left in tears as they watched him die by lethal injection in Texas.
James Broadnax, 37, was executed at Huntsville prison on April 30, after being convicted of the 2008 murders of music producers Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, outside a Dallas recording studio. Two weeks before his death, he married London law graduate Tiana Broadnax, who witnessed his final moments.
Mrs Broadnax, a single mother from London, continues to maintain her husband's innocence despite his conviction for the double shooting, according to The Mirror.
Inside the execution chamber
She has spoken of the harrowing scenes inside the execution chamber, where she claims even members of staff struggled to contain their emotions.
Prosecutors said Broadnax, a rapper, and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, attempted to rob the two men while under the influence of drugs. Although both were aged 19 at the time, Cummings received a sentence of life without parole, while Broadnax was condemned to death. Broadnax initially confessed to the killings but later withdrew the admission, arguing he had been intoxicated when he made it.
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.’”
'Questionable new evidence'
Multiple attempts were made to overturn Broadnax's execution and conviction, with his lawyers arguing that it was Cumming’s DNA that was found on the murder weapon.
Weeks before his death, Cummings himself confessed to pulling the trigger, saying in a video: “I’m really gonna tell it like it’s supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer.” The confession was dismissed as “questionable new evidence” by Texan officials, and the execution went ahead as planned.
“[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,” Tiana remembered, fighting back tears during the interview. “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.”
Broadnax could hear Tiana through the window as she repeatedly told him how much she loved him and was “sorry for failing” him, to which he replied: “No, baby, don’t blame yourself, stop blaming yourself.”
James' final words
The law graduate recalled her husband's last words as he read his final statement. “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 was made to wait another 20 minutes, watching as her husband's lips and face turned blue, his veins bulging through his forehead, she described.
After Broadnax was pronounced dead, Tiana 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. However, 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 were the first time she had been able to touch her husband physically, she told him: “You are at peace now.”
