‘My husband was given the lethal injection 5,000 miles away in Texas’

The first and only time Tiana Broadnax physically touched her husband, he lay dead on a gurney.

James Broadnax had just been pronounced dead after receiving the lethal injection at a prison in Huntsville, Texas, on April 30.

Tiana, having flown over from London, watched through the glass screen for 40 minutes as the poison took his life.

She told Metro: ‘After he was pronounced dead, I got to touch him for the first time. But the prison chaplain told me not to touch him from the chest down, as the poison was still inside him.’

James, 37, was sentenced to death following the deaths of two people during a robbery 18 years ago. He and his cousin Demarius Cummings had attacked Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in a parking lot.

At the time of his arrest, James claimed he was the shooter, something he later retracted. Demarius, who was given life without parole, has recently confessed to have fired the shots. All of the black jurors were also dismissed during the trial.

‘Watching James die was utterly traumatising,’ Tiana said. ‘And it feels so isolating. No one in the UK can possibly relate to what I have been through.’

‘I swore to myself I wouldn’t fall in love with a prisoner’

Tiana, a mum of one, began writing to him mid-2024 after learning about his case. The law student, based in Lewisham, was writing to inmates on death row in Texas, US, to form part of her master’s dissertation.

She told Metro: ‘I had sworn to myself to not be one of those women who fell in love with a prisoner. But I soon found myself desperately waiting to hear from him.’

By the end of 2024 they made their relationship official, with Tiana based in her Lewisham flat and James nearly 5,000 miles away in his cell six hours behind time-wise.

They never held hands, went out to dinner or kissed. But despite this, Tiana, a mum-of-one, says she has been left ‘broken’ by his death.

She said: ‘I now understand what people mean when they are scared to leave the house. If I go too far, I am back in that room, where they killed him.’

‘Mentally, I was on death row too’

They got to enjoy around a year of their relationship, but it took the form of six-hour phone calls, letters and the occasional prison visit.

This includes phone calls automatically cutting out 30 mins in (but being able to redial straight away) and being careful with what they can say.

Even going through airport security, Tiana automatically lifts her arms the way she has to before entering a prison.

‘In a way I was institutionalised too, because I had to live parts of my life around Texas prison rules,’ Tiana said. ‘Even now when I am on a long phone call I automatically check to see if we have nearly reached the 30 minute mark.’

The date of execution was set

In December, Tiana the couple were given the news: James’s execution date has been set. He was going to die on April 30.

‘I was sat in my lounge and I just remember screaming,’ she said. ‘But after that, it was just “right, we need to fight this”.’

They spent their remaining months appealing through the few outlets they had. But they also managed the time to get married.

They said ‘I do’ through the glass two weeks before James’s death date, which, according to Tiana, was ‘hard, but worth it for being allowed to spend 45 minutes together for the ceremony’.

The Supreme Court and parole board were all unwilling to grant a stay of execution. Governor Abbott’s office – which they saw as their most likely route to life – declined to help.

Tiana said: ‘We got confirmation the governor’s office wasn’t going to help the day before James’s death. And at that point, I just wanted to spend our last few hours together.’

On the day itself, Tiana was taken to the viewing room as her husband was strapped to a gurney. Even in his final lucid moments, they were not allowed to be in the same room together.

After the injection was administered, it took nearly 40 minutes for James to die.

‘Watching it all sent me into a bit of a psychotic state,’ Tiana said. ‘Officers tried walking me out of the prison, and I saw James standing with the death row protestors outside.’

She added: ‘I ran to him shouting, but one of the officers grabbed me and I realised I had hallucinated the whole thing.’

One week later, Tiana was back at home in London. She is unable to go back to work and her studies full time, so is focusing on looking after her daughter.

‘I was James’s PA, advocate and therapist full time. I was looking after him and my daughter full time and getting about four hours of sleep a night,’ she said.

‘Now he is gone, the world feels a lot emptier.’

Once emotionally recovered, Tiana plans to complete her masters and will commit her life to advocating against the death penalty – particuarly as right-wing politicians begin pushing for its reinstallment once again.

Almost half of university students polled were for bringing back capital puishmment for the most serious of crimes, while new political party Restore Britain said they support bringing it back.

‘I actually messaged [party leader] Rupert Lowe, and told him of how utterly devastating it is,’ Tiana said.

‘I emailed him and even messaged him on TikTok. Funnily enough, I haven’t heard back.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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