James Garfield Broadnax was put to death by lethal injection on April 30 at the Texas State Penitentiary, Rolling Stone reports. Convicted of double murder in 2009 at age 19, Broadnax’s case had become a flashpoint in the debate over using rap lyrics as courtroom evidence. In March, a star-studded lineup including Travis Scott, Young Thug, and Killer Mike petitioned the Supreme Court to halt the execution. The Court declined, and Broadnax died at 37.
Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, were arrested in 2008 after an attempted carjacking that killed producers Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler. Broadnax confessed quickly - even bragging about the murders on local news - though he was high on PCP-laced weed at the time. A predominantly white jury convicted him, but before sentencing, prosecutors introduced 40 pages of handwritten rap lyrics found in his car. The jury chose death over life without parole.
Last February, Broadnax’s legal team filed a Writ of Certiorari to get the Supreme Court to reconsider. Cummings then stepped forward to say he, not Broadnax, killed Swan and Butler, and that Broadnax took the fall because his rap sheet was shorter. The Supreme Court rejected all appeals, noting Broadnax never recanted his confession.
A supporting brief from Killer Mike, Young Thug, and others argued the lyrics were irrelevant since they were only used at sentencing. Scott’s separate brief called the prosecution “a categorical and straightforwardly unconstitutional content-based penalty on rap music as a form of expression.” In 2022, New York and California passed laws limiting how lyrics can be used as evidence. A federal version, the RAP Act, was reintroduced in 2023 but remains stuck in legislative limbo.