His Rap Lyrics Put Him on Death Row. Could a New Confession Save Him?

Law and Order His Rap Lyrics Put Him on Death Row. Could a New Confession Save Him? James Broadnax was found guilty of a double murder almost 20 years ago. He's scheduled to die on April 30, but his cousin has come forward to confess to the crime By Brenna Ehrlich Brenna Ehrlich Contact Brenna Ehrlich on X Contact Brenna Ehrlich by Email View all posts by Brenna Ehrlich April 24, 2026 When Demarius Cummings heard that his cousin, James Broadnax, was scheduled to be executed on April 30, 2026, he told lawyers his conscience couldn’t take it anymore. Both men were arrested for the shooting deaths of music producers Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in June of 2008, but only Broadnax was sentenced to death — in part, due to rap lyrics he wrote Since Broadnax confessed to being the shooter, Cummings just got life in prison. “It’s just been weighing on me,” Cumming admitted in a video shot for Broadnax’s clemency package. “James has been telling my story this whole time. I’m here to come forward and tell it how it’s supposed to be told. That it was me. That I was the killer.” Now, a team ranging from rappers to legal experts to documentary filmmakers are racing to save Broadnax from the needle, arguing that not only was he not the shooter, but that his trial was botched from the beginning due to a largely white jury and a sentencing phase that used artistic expression as an excuse to put him to death. “I need to get it out,” Cummings said. “Because it’s destroying me. I feel like I should be in his place.” In 2008, Broadnax was just 19 and hanging around Garland, Texas. He and Cummings didn’t have jobs or money, and Broadnax was listless. Broadnax, who had an artistic streak, spent his spare time scribbling lyrics in his notebooks about his life. One day, after smoking PCP-laced weed, the cousins decided to rob someone. They didn’t know Swan, 26, and Butler, 28 — two Christian music producers who had been recording that day, one of whom had two small children — but they sp...