The state of Texas plans to execute James Broadnax on April 30, 2026 for a double murder that he did not commit. The actual shooter, James's cousin, Demarius Cummings, was sentenced to life without parole for his role in the crime. Demarius now admits that he is the one who killed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler outside their music studio in Dallas in 2008, not James. His admission is corroborated by the presence of his DNA on the murder weapon and on one of the victims.
This new evidence fundamentally undermines the State’s case for James’s murder conviction and death sentence. Neither James’s conviction for capital murder nor his death sentence would have occurred had the jury known that Demarius, not James, shot the two victims. James should not receive a more severe punishment than the person who actually committed the killings.
