Wife Screams “I Love You” as Convicted Double Killer Is Put to Death in Texas

A convicted double killer was executed in Texas on Thursday night as his new wife screamed “I love you” from the witness room and collapsed in anguish while he spent his final moments still claiming the state had the wrong man.

James Broadnax, 37, was put to death by lethal injection for the 2008 murders of two men during a robbery in suburban Dallas. But even as the drugs began flowing, Broadnax refused to back down from his claim of innocence, telling the victims’ families and the witnesses watching that Texas had made a fatal mistake.

The most emotional scene in the death chamber came from Broadnax’s wife, British law graduate Tiana Krasniqi, who had married him just weeks earlier inside a Texas prison. As the execution unfolded, she repeatedly shouted, “I love you,” and pressed herself against the chamber window as Broadnax gasped, shook his head, and slowly faded away.

He was declared dead at 6:47 p.m. CDT, 21 minutes after the execution began.

Krasniqi, who had built a relationship with Broadnax through letters over the course of two years, was reportedly so overcome with grief that she had to be helped from the prison after watching her husband die. Hours later, she posted an emotional TikTok accusing the state of killing an innocent man.

“They killed my husband,” she said.

She also claimed Broadnax appeared to suffer during the lethal injection, alleging he had a nosebleed and bruising on his neck. In the same message, she lashed out over the presence of the victims’ relatives, saying they laughed as they watched the execution.

Krasniqi and Broadnax were married on April 14 in prison after first connecting while she was in London pursuing a master’s degree in human rights law. According to reports, their bond began when she started writing to him as part of her legal studies, and it eventually turned into a romance that ended only when the execution date arrived.

Still, while Broadnax’s wife and supporters pleaded for mercy, prosecutors said the facts of the case were clear.

Broadnax was sentenced to death for the 2008 shooting deaths of Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler. Authorities said Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Commings, robbed and fatally shot the two men in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio in the Dallas area. Broadnax was just 19 years old at the time of the murders, but the jury found the crime brutal enough to warrant the death penalty.

In his final statement, Broadnax spoke directly to the victims’ families, asking for forgiveness while at the same time insisting he never committed the murders.

“I prayed to God for your forgiveness,” he said.

“Despite what you think about me, I hope to God that prayer was answered. But no matter what you think about me, Texas got it wrong. I’m innocent, the facts of my case should speak for itself. Period.”

As the sedative pentobarbital took effect, Broadnax used his last moments to encourage those who believed in him.

“Don’t give up,” he said, before stopping mid-sentence shortly before dying.

Broadnax had also drawn attention over the years because he was a rapper and claimed prosecutors unfairly used his lyrics against him at trial, arguing they were misunderstood and helped paint him as violent. But in the end, none of those arguments stopped the execution from moving forward. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a last-minute request to halt the sentence, clearing the way for Texas to carry it out.

At least seven relatives of the victims were present to witness the execution, bringing a final chapter to a case that had stretched on for nearly two decades.

Broadnax became the third inmate executed in Texas this year and the 10th in the United States.