With 42 days until his scheduled execution, James Broadnax filed a new appeal in his capital murder conviction on Thursday with a signed confession from his codefendant claiming he, not Broadnax, had committed the killings.
In his confession, Demarius Cummings, Broadnax’s cousin, took full responsibility for the planned robbery and deadly shooting of music producers Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, in 2008. Cummings’ statement said he persuaded Broadnax, then 19, to publicly claim he committed the killings because he had no criminal history, while Cummings had already been convicted of other crimes.
Cummings said his decision to confess to the killings was influenced by Broadnax’s looming execution date, which is scheduled for April 30 at 6 p.m., and his becoming “more spiritual.”
“I want to clear my conscience and do not want James to be executed for shooting two people when I was the one who committed those acts,” Cummings wrote in his confession.
Cummings is currently serving a life sentence for his part in the double capital murder the two were convicted of in 2009. His confession was first reported by the Dallas Morning News on Thursday morning.
The confession was included in Broadnax’s new appeal claiming the state presented no evidence during trial that Broadnax had shot the two other than statements he made to the media, and that DNA evidence on the murder weapon had always indicated Cummings had fired the weapon. The appeal asks the court to stay Broadnax’s execution, remand his conviction back to trial court and ultimately to strike his death sentence.
The appeal was filed in Dallas County and with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. A Dallas County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said the office would respond to the appeal.
Thursday’s filing also reiterated similar claims that previous appeals from Broadnax assert — one of which is awaiting action by the Supreme Court — that prosecutors used “racially insinuating inferences” and misrepresented rap lyrics Broadnax wrote to secure his conviction. Last week, several nationally recognized rappers including Houston artist Travis Scott filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court in a separate appeal from Broadnax, arguing the inclusion of lyrics Broadnax wrote depicting violence was erroneous and racially charged.
Under Texas’ law of parties, defendants can still be sentenced to death if they helped commit a crime in which a capital murder occurred, even if they did not kill anyone themselves. But prosecutors explicitly declined to use that law in Broadnax’s case, and the appeal claims that it would have been unlikely for it to have applied to Broadnax if the confession had been available.
Cummings was charged under the law of parties, but the state chose not to seek the death penalty.
If his appeal is successful and Broadnax’s execution is stayed, it would be the third stay granted in Texas by the court in just over a year. Last March, David Wood’s execution was stayed by the CCA before his case was remanded back to trial court in July. Robert Roberson’s execution, which had been opposed vehemently by several members of the state Legislature, was also stayed for a second time in October following an appeal with new evidence found with the assistance of state Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston.
If his appeal is rejected and the execution proceeds as scheduled, Broadnax would be the second inmate in Texas put to death in 2026. He is one of three men in the state with executions currently scheduled.
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