New wife of death row inmate declared his innocence during execution
Death row inmate James Broadnax’s new wife, Tiana Krasniqi, made her presence known at his execution. RadarOnline.com can reveal, as she ran through the room’s window and screamed, “I love you.”
Krasniqi, a British law graduate, was married to Broadnax weeks before he was due to die by lethal injection after killing two men in a robbery in 2008.
Krasniqi, who began a relationship with the convicted killer by writing to him behind bars as part of her law studies, declared his innocence and professed her love for him as she “threw herself against the window of the death chamber.” However, Broadnax was still put to death on Thursday, April 30, despite claiming he never committed the crime.
The 37-year-old rapper claimed he was only convicted because his lyrics had been misinterpreted. Broadnax was pronounced dead after 21 minutes, and just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to halt the operation.
In his final words, Broadnax begged for forgiveness, adding: ‘Despite what you think of me, I hope to God that my prayer was answered. But whatever you think about me, Texas is wrong. I am innocent; the facts of my case should speak for themselves. Point.’
He also called on his supporters to keep fighting for him.
Krasniqi raged on TikTok After Broadnax’s execution he said: ‘They killed my husband. My husband suffered so much from the lethal injection that he had a nosebleed and bruises on his neck. The families laughed as they watched. Is that justice?’
Earlier this month, on April 14, Broadnax and Krasniqi got married at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas.
Broadnax has been in prison since 2009, after being sentenced to death at the age of 19 for the murders of music producers Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler. Prosecutors say Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, shot and robbed both men in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio.
However, Cummings took full responsibility for the crime, claiming he pushed Broadnax to publicly claim he was behind the murders as he had no criminal history. At the same time, Cummings had previously been convicted of other crimes.
Before his execution, Cummings, who is serving a life sentence, had confessed: “I want to clear my conscience and do not want James to be executed because he shot two people when I was the one who committed these acts.”
He previously said: “The fact that James received the death penalty for these crimes when I was the one who shot the victims weighs on my conscience, especially as I have become more spiritual during my years in prison.”
On Friday, May 1, just one day after her husband’s death, Krasniqi again used her TikTok to announce, “You killed him, but you can’t kill what we had.”
She also shared one phone conversation in prison between them, where Broadnax laughs and says, “First of all, I love you, and you mean absolutely the world to me.”
“You are one of the greatest blessings God has ever given me besides giving me life,” he added.
