Rap Artists File Amicus Briefs in Inmate's Supreme Court Appeal

Prominent figures in the rap industry, including Travis Scott, Killer Mike, T.I., and Young Thug, have filed amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of James Garfield Broadnax, a Texas death row inmate whose execution is scheduled for April 30, 2026. The filings urge the court to review Broadnax's 2009 death sentence, arguing that prosecutors unconstitutionally used his rap lyrics as evidence during sentencing for the murders of two men in a 2008 robbery near Garland, Texas.

Broadnax, who was 19 at the time of the crime, was convicted by a nearly all-white jury of capital murder in the deaths of Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler. Court records show that Broadnax and an accomplice planned to rob the victims outside a music studio but fled with only $2 and a 1995 Ford vehicle after the killings. Prosecutors did not introduce Broadnax's lyrics during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. Instead, they presented more than 40 pages of his handwritten verses during the punishment phase to argue that he posed a future danger to society. The jury reviewed the material twice, including shortly before deciding on the death penalty over life imprisonment without parole.