Rap music on trial: Upcoming Texas execution stirs national debate

Rap music has been used against criminal defendants since the genre took hold in the 1980s and its use has only increased in recent years. Some states are trying to limit the practice.

An upcoming execution in Texas has gained the attention of prominent rappers like Travis Scott and T.I. for the questions it raises about the place rap lyrics have in the courtroom and how justice is meted out to Black defendants.

James Broadnax, 37, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, April 30, for the 2008 double murder of Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler, two producers of Christian music killed during a robbery outside their studio in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

Broadnax’s case is gaining national attention for what his attorneys say was an unfair trial that saw prosecutors eliminate almost every potential Black juror and use Broadnax’s own rap lyrics against him. The result, defense attorneys argue in a recent U.S. Supreme Court filing, transformed Broadnax’s “artistic expression into a death warrant.”

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the Supreme Court last month, rapper Travis Scott argues that rap music has been increasingly used as evidence against defendants “in a manner that exploits and perpetuates stereotypes.”

“Because rap lyrics are art, they are not literal,” the brief said. “And introduction of rap lyrics as evidence against criminal defendants invites jurors to transfer their opinions about the genre onto the individual before them, risking punishment for expression unrelated to the crime at issue.”

Rapper Killer Mike echoed those thoughts in a similar brief filed in the case. Other powerful people in the entertainment industry who joined in that filing include rappers Young Thug and Fat Joe, record executive Kevin Liles, and actor/comedian Anthony Anderson.

Texas prosecutors are defending both Broadnax’s prosecution and the use of his rap lyrics to show jurors his “cold, flippant attitude toward the murders and the judicial process.”

“The State saved the jailhouse lyric, written while Broadnax was awaiting trial, for the punishment phase − to demonstrate to the jury Broadnax’s outrageous and extreme lack of empathy, regret, remorse, and accountability,” prosecutors say.

Here’s what you need to know about the case, Broadnax’s chances at a reprieve from execution, and how the victims’ family members feel about the issues being raised.

Free speech: How new laws could save rappers from their own lyrics

What was James Broadnax convicted of?

On June 19, 2008, a bicyclist came upon the bodies of 26-year-old Stephen Swan and 28-year-old Matthew Butler outside of their recording studio in Garland Texas just before 1 a.m., court records say.

Later that day, court records say that Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, went to a family member’s home in Swan’s car, and that Broadnax displayed Swan’s driver’s license and bragged that he “hit a lick,” or committed a robbery. The two cousins left in the car, and a family friend soon after called the police when she saw news reports about the double murder.

Police pulled Broadnax over later that night in Swan’s car 150 miles away in Texarcana and arrested him. After police returned Broadnax to Dallas, he confessed to the murders in multiple interviews with members of the news media, court records say.

During the interviews, Broadnax told reporters that he and Cummings had driven to Garland looking for someone to rob and that he alone killed Swan and Butler.

Prosecutors leaned heavily on the confessions during trial but the sentencing phase focused more on rap lyrics that Broadnax had written in his notebooks. The lyrics, which included “I hit the lick, but the reason I got caught cuz the (expletive) snitching,” showed that Broadnax was a dangerous person and was likely to commit more violence unless he was executed, prosecutors told jurors.

Court records say that jurors asked to see the rap lyrics twice during deliberations over Broadnax’s punishment and delivered their verdict the same day. They gave him the death penalty.

Meanwhile Broadnax’s cousin recently came forward to say that he was actually the triggerman that night. Cummings said the only reason Broadnax confessed was because he didn’t have a significant criminal record and the cousins thought that he’d be treated with more leniency. Cummings is serving life in prison without parole.

On trial: The use of rap lyrics

The heart of Broadnax’s arguments for a reprieve center on the rap lyrics used against him during the penalty phase.

His attorneys and the entertainers who wrote to the Supreme Court argue that such lyrics are protected free speech and have nothing to do with the crime committed. The way they were presented to a nearly all-white jury, they say, was prejudicial because rap music “often invokes negative racial stereotypes about Black men among jurors and judges.”

Dallas County prosecutors called Broadnax’s claims over the rap lyrics “meritless and not worthy of this court’s attention” in a recent filing.

“The rap lyrics in his journals are relevant and admissible to show not only his gang affiliation or interest, but also that themes of lawlessness, violence, and drugs − whether fictional or not − occupied his time and thoughts,” they wrote. “If Johnny Cash had ever been on trial for murder, particularly if the murder was alleged to have occurred in Reno, no doubt his ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ lyrics (‘I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die’) would have been admissible during the punishment phase of his trial.”

Rap music has been used against criminal defendants since the genre took hold in the 1980s and its use has only increased in recent years, experts say. Some states including California, Maryland and Louisiana have passed laws to limit its use.

Among recent trials where rap lyrics factored in: Rapper Young Thug’s 2023 trial on RICO charges (he pleaded guilty), rapper Drakeo the Ruler’s 2019 murder trial (he was acquitted), rapper Tay-K’s 2025 murder trial (he was sentenced to 80 years), and rapper Lil Durk’s upcoming trial on murder-for-hire charges (he has pleaded not guilty).

“These high-profile cases have brought attention to the risk that rap lyrics will be used as evidence of criminality or to enhance a criminal defendant’s sentence,” argues rapper Travis Scott’s filing with the Supreme Court. “Unsurprisingly, this risk chills rap artists’ speech.”

What do the victim family members say?

Lost in much of the coverage of Broadnax’s execution are the victims in the case: Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler. Their families both have expressed steadfast support of Broadnax’s execution.

“I can not believe that this evil, heartless killer is still alive,” Matthew’s mom, Theresa Butler, wrote in 2016 about her son, who was a 28-year-old married father of two when he was killed. “My son and Steve had no choice about whether to live or die that night … This killer should never have the choice to live after what he did to them.”

Last month, she called Broadnax’s most recent arguments a “hail Mary pass.” She previously called Swan and her son “two wonderful Christian, hard-working young men.”

“Matthew would have given them a ride home since the train and buses stopped running in Garland. He would have paid for an Uber for them to get home,” she said. “He would have done anything to stay alive and enjoy a wonderful life with his wife and two babies. And, his whole family. He loved us all so.”

Swan’s sister, Deborah Burkhardt, sought an execution date to be set for Broadnax last year and wrote in a court filing that “every piece of worthless litigation filed by the defense is another insult and another injury to us,” according to NPR for North Texas.

She added: “There is no end to what they will come up with, or try to put a new spin on.”

What ways could James Broadnax win a reprieve?

Broadnax’s attorneys have cast a wide net of possibilities to stop his April 30 execution.

They have multiple appeals sitting in the Supreme Court, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is considering the case, and Broadnax’s attorneys are also planning to bring his claims to the governor.

USA TODAY will be closely following the case and covering the execution should it move forward.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty, cold case investigations and breaking news for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.