Texas inmate James Broadnax faces execution amid final appeal arguing he wasn’t the shooter

Added: 2026-05-03

[00:00:00]A Texas death row inmate is less than 2 hours away from being executed.

[00:00:05]37-year-old James Broadnax was sentenced to death in 2009 for the robbery and deadly shooting of two Christian music producers outside Dallas. His cousin now says he was the one who pulled the trigger. Just hours ago though, the US Supreme Court denied his request for a stay of execution. So, his death execution by lethal injection is scheduled to happen at 6:00 tonight.

[00:00:27]Austin Democratic Representative John Bucy is calling for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles or the governor to intervene in this case. He's joining us now to talk more about this.

[00:00:36]Representative Bucy, thank you for your time.

[00:00:38]Hey, thanks for having me. You know, talk to us about what really stands out to you, what concerns you about this case?

[00:00:45]I think anyone that takes time to look at this case realizes that we are an hour and a half away from executing someone that didn't kill or shoot anybody. What happened here is these two cousins participated in an armed robbery. That's a heinous crime and they both deserve to be punished for that, but the DNA evidence tells us that it was the cousin his cousin Cummings who actually pulled the trigger. Also, we have a sworn confession from his cousin saying he was the one that shot the individuals, not Broadnax who the people of Texas are going to execute in 90 minutes.

[00:01:18]You have folks who say but Broadnax admitted to this. He signed a confession saying that he did it. He also had some comments saying that he wanted the state to kill him. How do you combat that against this?

[00:01:31]Look, I I think we all know to look at the DNA evidence and to look at the facts and they tell us that he's not the shooter. The only time he made this confession was under the influence of PCP, also known as angel dust, to a reporter. All the way through the legal process he has said he has pleaded not guilty and he has said he's not the shooter. In fact, recently he said that confession was not accurate. It's not been the case, but people are ignoring the facts in this case and are moving full steam ahead to execute a man that didn't kill anybody. I'm really surprised that the you know, Board of Pardons and Paroles, the State of Appellate Court, you know, sort of said that those that confession was enough and him saying that he didn't confess it wasn't in you know, it wasn't a sworn testimony. It's it's a lot of you know, legal jargon to really get through to make you wonder why this DNA was not considered at the time.

[00:02:25]You know, the the jurors knew the DNA at the time and unfortunately they ruled this way. I think when you look at the confession as I have, again a confession made under the influence of PCP, it was a heinous confession and I understand why it's hard to look past that. These were the the words of a 19-year-old that was drug induced. When the sobering effect came along and reality struck in, the DNA tells us he's not the shooter.

[00:02:49]The facts tell us he's not the shooter and his cousin has since admitted to being the shooter under sworn testimony.

[00:02:55]We need to look past what was said under a a stupor of drugs when he was 19 and look at the reality and everyone's making a mistake. Luckily right now the governor still has the opportunity to intervene and he can give a 30-day reprieve and he needs to act because the people of Texas are about to do something that they can't take back.

[00:03:14]Yeah, the governor is the only one at this point who could potentially stop this. Have you or any of your colleagues been in touch with the governor or his office? I have met with the governor's office about this matter.

[00:03:25]And would are you willing to share with us some of what they said where you know, where we are?

[00:03:30]Yeah, it was a very professional conversation where we just talked about the case, talked about why I was interested in this case and I shared my concerns like I'm sharing here.

[00:03:39]Um, you know, I would say it was very professional and you know, I I think they they listened to me seriously and and I hope that the governor will act in the next 90 minutes.

[00:03:48]Yeah.

[00:03:49]You know, Representative Bucy, there is another element to this case that I think is very interesting that some people have pointed out and expressed concern about is the use of rap lyrics by Broadnax during the trial, during particularly the sentencing phase when he was sentenced to death. Some say that they you know, those rap lyrics were just expression, freedom of speech. Are there bigger concerns when it comes to this case about using stuff like that in court to sentence someone to death?

[00:04:19]Absolutely and and for the viewers that don't know, that's what happened during the sentencing. They used rap lyrics he had written to say he would be a future threat and therefore needed to be executed. That's an absurd way to use art and freedom of speech. Some states have already banned this. I hope to file legislation and work with others that Texas should be banning this procedure as well. We should never conflate free speech and artists or artistry with punishments and real actions. Again, this would have never happened if the jury had looked at the DNA evidence and looked at the facts, but they couldn't get past a drug induced confession that led us to this outcome. He should have never been tried as the shooter. At most he should have been tried as a party involved in the crime and therefore it takes a higher threshold to find execution. And I'll note that with his cousin who at the time they thought was the party not the shooter, they gave him life in prison.

[00:05:11]Yeah.

[00:05:12]Certainly something we'll be continuing to watch especially as we get closer to 6:00. Representative Bucy, we thank you so much for your time.

[00:05:19]Thank you for having me.