A London mum whose husband was executed in Texas said watching him die was 'utterly traumatising'. Tiana Broadnax travelled to Huntsville, Texas, to witness her husband James receive a lethal injection on April 30. He died 40 minutes later while strapped to a gurney.
Tiana said: 'The first time I ever touched him was when he lay dead in front of me.' The experience sent her into a 'psychotic state' and she hallucinated that he was standing outside the prison.
Execution details
James, 37, was sentenced to death for the deaths of two people during a robbery 18 years ago. He and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, attacked Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in a parking lot. At the time of his arrest, James claimed he was the shooter, but later retracted that claim. Cummings, who was given life without parole, has recently confessed to firing the shots.
All of the black jurors were dismissed during the trial. Tiana fought to have his sentence repealed, but after exploring all legal avenues, James's execution date was confirmed.
A widow's isolation
Tiana told Metro: 'It feels so isolating. No one in the UK can possibly relate to what I have been through.' On the day of the execution, she was taken to a viewing room while her husband was strapped to a gurney. Even in his final lucid moments, they were not allowed to be in the same room.
A week later, Tiana was back home in London. She is unable to return to work or study full-time and is focusing on looking after her daughter. 'I was James's PA, advocate and therapist full time. I was looking after him and my daughter full-time and getting about four hours of sleep a night,' she said. 'Now he is gone, the world feels a lot emptier.'
Botched execution in Tennessee
The case comes as murderer Christa Pike survived two lethal injections in Tennessee. Her heart was still beating and witnesses heard her snoring before the curtains were drawn and her microphone was cut off. Pike, sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, has been taken to hospital, her attorneys say.
Tennessee's Department of Corrections has not yet confirmed Pike's condition. The state's governor, Bill Lee, has ordered a review 'to determine exactly what occured,' ABC News reports. He added that the remaining scheduled execution will not be carried out this year. It would have been the state's first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
