A British woman who married a Texas death row inmate just two weeks before his execution says she watched him die, and that even the prison staff around her were in tears. Tiana Broadnax, originally from London, has now described those final hours in an emotional interview with LADbible Stories.
Her husband, James Broadnax, 37, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, on April 30. He had spent years on death row for the 2008 shootings of music producers Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler outside a Dallas studio.
A wedding and a countdown
She and James married only a fortnight before the execution date, so their time as husband and wife was almost entirely spent counting down.
In the final hours, she brought him his favourite Powerade and some beef jerky, because he was struggling to eat. According to Tiana, he told her: "I never knew how loved I could be. I never knew I was worthy of being fought for."
The viewing room
When she entered the viewing room, she saw him strapped down beneath a bedsheet. "Soon as I turn left, he turns and we both look at each other in the eyes and I drop and I scream," she said.
Through the glass she told him again and again that she loved him and was sorry for failing him. She says he answered: "No, baby, don’t blame yourself, stop blaming yourself." His last words to her, she recalled, were "I love you queen, don’t give up." As he said "don’t", she says, his head jerked back and his eyes rolled up.
Tiana stayed for another 20 minutes and watched his lips and face turn blue. After he was declared dead, she was driven to the funeral home.
Twenty minutes with the body
At the funeral home, she says she lost her grip on reality. When she saw the hearse carrying his body, she began running after it. The spiritual advisor and the warden, who she says had been crying himself, led her to the door and told her she had 20 minutes with the body.
It was the first time she had been allowed to touch her husband. "You are at peace now," she told him.
A disputed case
Tiana still insists her husband was innocent. Broadnax first confessed but later withdrew that statement, saying he had been under the influence of drugs. He and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, were both 19 when they tried to rob the two producers while high on cannabis and PCP. Cummings was sentenced to life without parole.
Broadnax’s lawyers fought to overturn the conviction and stop the execution. They said Cummings’ DNA had been found on the murder weapon. Weeks before the execution, Cummings appeared in a video saying: "I’m really gonna tell it like it’s supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer."
Texas authorities dismissed this as "questionable new evidence", and the execution went ahead as planned.
Today, Tiana is left with memories of a marriage that lasted two weeks and a farewell that lasted minutes. She continues to speak publicly about her husband and to stand by his innocence.
Source: Daily Express US
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