The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday denied Texas death row inmate James Broadnax’s final request to block his execution, set for Thursday evening.
Broadnax was sentenced to death in the 2008 robbery and deadly Garland shooting of two music producers Matthew Butler, 28, and Stephen Swan, 26. Broadnax’s appeal centered around a confession from his codefendant and cousin, Demarius Cummings, who claimed he had shot the two music producers, not Broadnax.
The appeal argued that his sentence was unconstitutional in light of the confession. It also argued that DNA evidence corroborated Cummings’ confession because only his DNA was found on the gun and one of the victims.
Cummings’ confession was introduced in a previous appeal filed March 19 in Dallas County district court and with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In the confession, Cummings said he persuaded Broadnax, then 19, to take the blame for the killings because he had no criminal history. The Texas court rejected the appeal April 7.
The appeal also argued that trial prosecutors had improperly struck all prospective Black jurors and “invoked racial stereotypes” throughout the trial.
The Supreme Court struck down two other appeals from Broadnax on Monday, one arguing that trial prosecutors had misrepresented rap lyrics Broadnax had written and another that had additional arguments about the jury’s racial makeup.
Broadnax is set to be the third man put to death in Texas in 2026, and three other executions are scheduled through the rest of the year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The next execution scheduled is for Edward Busby on May 14. Busby was convicted of capital murder in 2005 for robbing a woman and wrapping her face in duct tape, suffocating her.
