Death row rapper's British wife suffers 'flashbacks' after witnessing execution

The British wife of a death row rapper says she is suffering "flashbacks" after watching his haunting execution. Law school graduate Tiana Krasniqi, 31, witnessed James Broadnax, 37, being put to death by lethal injection at 6.47pm on Thursday in a Texas prison . The pair married last month in a short 20-minute ceremony in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit. Tiana first contacted the inmate for a legal study and she had campaigned to spare his life after he was convicted of the 2008 shootings of two Christian music producers. But now she has revealed she is haunted by the sight of his final moments and revealed snippets of the last letter he sent her before his death. Tiana, from Lewisham, wrote on TikTok : "I miss him so much, I keep having flashbacks to the execution, I get panic attacks. One minute I feel okay and the next the world is crushing down. "When it's silent, my heart beats so fast and I get scared. I keep thinking what else could I have done. The reality that he is not coming back anymore randomly hits me hard. They ended up husbands [sic] life right before my eyes." In the two days leading up to the execution, Tiana revealed she had unlimited visitation privileges to see Broadnax. She told her TikTok followers: "Just before I left him he told me he was scared. He just kept crying and he said 'I'm not ready to die, I didn't do this'. He kept praying and he kept telling me he's scared."" She said that right up until 4pm on the day of Broadnax's death she was still hoping Texas Governor Gregg Abbott would call off the execution. But it never happened. She told how she was led through a maze of corridors in the state penitentiary in Huntsville before she finally saw Broadnax. She said: "It's an empty room and you have a massive window with red bars. I saw him strapped on the gurney and obviously his arms were out [wide]. On his right arm I saw the IV... I screamed, I dropped, I screamed." She added: "I come to realise that he can hear me. SO me and him are talking back and forth." Broadnax read a statement before a lethal injection was administered, causing his head to "jerk back" and him to groan before his eyes closed. Tiana said: "I screamed so loud... I was screaming 'Open your eyes, open your eyes, I love you, I'm sorry, I was supposed to stop this'." Tiana said she was finally able to see Broadnax's body in a funeral home but was warned she couldn't touch his arm. Dismissing claims that the execution was "humane", Tiana said: "My husband died suffering." Tiana also posted a picture of her "last letter" which was dated "April 30, Thursday morning", the day of his execution. In the letter he wrote: "I've dreaded the moment of this letter between us. Because if you're sitting and reading this it means that I've been taken away from you and baby girl (I think) before our time. Before the time of our family unit being realized." In another section he wrote: "So I pray that my heart and love will still translate to you baby, and you know that you were and will forever be my world one one true only love. I am with you always and only ever a thought or memory away. As special as you are to me, loving you and beuing in love with you throughout our journey served to be even more precious to me. Our forever and a day is exactly that. To my wife, I love you..." Broadnax was accused of gunning down and robbing Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in a recording studio car park in Dallas, Garland, nearly 18 years ago. However Broadnax’s cousin Demarius Cummings – who was jailed for life without parole over the same crime – later claimed he pulled the trigger. Cummings said in a prison video filmed in a last-ditch bid to stop the execution: “I’m really gonna tell it like it’s supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer. I shot Matthew Bullard, Steve Swann.” Lawyers for Broadnax claimed the confession was backed by forensic evidence. They said Cumming’s DNA – not Broadnax’s – was found on the murder weapon and in the pocket of one of the victims. Despite a last-ditch appeal, officials pressed ahead with the execution at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. Prosecutors have long insisted Broadnax was the gunman, pointing to his own admission. Speaking to reporters outside prison, he previously said: “I pulled the trigger” – and claimed he had no remorse. But in a later video, Broadnax insisted that the confession was false and made when he no longer cared about his life. His legal team said he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the interviews. In a separate statement, he expressed regret for his role in the robbery. “I wish I could show them my soul, so they could see just how sorry I am. I am very much remorseful for everything that happened,” he said. The case drew backing from rappers Travis Scott, T.I. and Killer Mike filing briefs to the Supreme Court in support of his appeal – which was ultimately rejected. Texas officials dismissed the cousin’s confession as “questionable new evidence”. And the victim’s family fiercely opposed any delay. “This so-called confession from Cummings is just a stall tactic by Broadnax’s desperate defense team. It’s all a lie,” said Theresa Butler, mother of Matthew Butler. Tiana moved to Houston, Texas, where she enlisted a team of lawyers to submit appeals against his execution. It meant months apart from her daughter, who remains in the UK with the girl's father. She said previously: "Nobody agrees with [the relationship]. And I don't expect them to. Like I said, it's not conventional. I miss my daughter. I haven't seen her in a month. I'm probably not going to see her for another two. It is hard." But despite her desperate efforts, Broadnax was put to death with a fatal dose of pentobarbital just hours after the US Supreme Court denied his final appeal. In a statement shared after Broadnax's death, Tiana and his legal team said: "James was a caring, thoughtful, spiritual, and deeply intelligent person who positively impacted all who came to know him. He will be missed by all of us and by his family and many friends. "James spoke often of his feelings for the families of Mr. Swan and Mr. Butler, and about his remorse for his role in these crimes, and our thoughts at this time are with their families as well, as James' were."