'Texas Got It Wrong': Man Executed After Claiming Innocence in 2008 Fatal Shooting
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A North Texas man who maintained he was not the shooter in a deadly robbery nearly 18 years ago, which left two people dead, and who argued that prosecutors misused rap lyrics he had written to secure his death sentence, was executed Thursday night. James Broadnax was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles north of Houston. Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Broadnax's attorneys to halt the execution. Broadnax was convicted for the fatal shootings of two men in 2008 outside a music studio in a Dallas suburb. Prosecutors said Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, fatally shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler's recording studio in Garland. Cummings was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Broadnax remained defiant in his final statement, where he also apologized to the victims' families. Seven family members, including the parents of each victim, were present during the execution.