#death row

"The state of Texas plans to execute James Broadnax on April 30, 2026 for a double murder that he did not commit. The actual shooter, James's cousin, Demarius Cummings, was sentenced to life without parole for his role in the crime. Demarius now admits that he is the one who killed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler outside their music studio in Dallas in 2008, not James. His admission is corroborated by the presence of his DNA on the murder weapon and on one of the victims.

This new evidence fundamentally undermines the State’s case for James’s murder conviction and death sentence. Neither James’s conviction for capital murder nor his death sentence would have occurred had the jury known that Demarius, not James, shot the two victims. James should not receive a more severe punishment than the person who actually committed the killings.

Furthermore, James's trial was tainted by racial bias. Dallas County prosecutors deliberately and methodically removed all prospective Black jurors from the jury pool so that James, who is Black, was convicted by a nearly all-white jury. Outrageously, this has been a common practice in Dallas for decades.

February has three executions scheduled in the US.

Florida clearly intends to keep up with last year's horrifying execution pace (even if it means fulfilling dubious sentences) as they account for 2 of those 3.

They've decided to kill Ronald Heath on February 10. He was sentenced to death by a non-unanimous jury (which is not allowed on most states). Meanwhile, his co-defendant, Kenneth Heath, got life in prison with the possibility of parole in exchange for testifying against Ronald. While I am of course happy that Florida spared his co-defendant, these sort of situations do raise questions about the conviction, including:

Is it really fair? They committed the same crime after all. And while plea deals have their utilities (and their issues but that's a conversation for another day) it seems absurd that who gets to live or die is decided by how agreeable they are to prosecution rather than the severity of the crime or the necessity of the execution.

Is the testimony reliable? When someone's offered a lighter sentence and especially when their life is threatened by the death penalty, they face pressure to make their testimony helpful to the state. Because if their testimony doesn't help the prosecutor, they don't get a deal. This can lead to exaggeration, stretching of the truth, or even out-right lying. I can't say for sure that happened in this case, but something to keep in mind about all incentivized testimonies when the show up.

What's the point of the execution? Common arguments in favor of the death penalty are that is necessary for giving the victim's families' proper justice or for protecting the public from a vicious and dangerous person whom even prison can't hold safely. But if the state regularly lets people out of the gallows for the sake of an extra witness or expedited court proceedings, it makes you wonder if those standards are really being applied. After all, if Kenneth can live without the victim's family being scorned, why can't Ronald? If Kenneth is safe enough that he can earn parole, what makes Ronald so dangerous he can't even stay in prison? The answer is nothing, of course. The death penalty has always been arbitrary in its application, and states like Florida care more about their tough-on-crime appearance than they do on actually minimizing harm.

They've also scheduled the execution of Melvin Trotter on the 24th. Melvin was diagnosed as intellectually disabled as a teenager, which is supposed to make his execution illegal under Florida law. This never stops them though, as they often get around it by having an expert witness dispute the diagnosis. Rather than offering more clarity,as expert witnesses are supposed to, this usually just leads to two conflicting reports, neither noticeably more credible or persuasive than the other.

If you want to tell Florida you disapprove of these executions, sign these petitions below:

Another petition for Melvin is forthcoming from this page: https://deathpenaltyaction.org/take-action/execution-petitions/

The Non-Florida execution in February is of Kendrick Simpson in Oklahoma on February 12. Oklahoma is also apparently vying to keep its top spot for executions, and is willing to kill Kendrick despite the fact the jury never heard about his PTSD (a recognized mitigating factor) and the fact the Kendrick as dedicated himself to rehabilitation and self-improvement in the 20 years he's been on death row.

You can sign a petition asking the Oklahoma to downgrade his sentence to life in prison here:

or, if you live in Oklahoma, ask your state level reps to pass SB601, which would pause all executions in the state. The bill currently sits in the Judiciary committee, so if your reps include Brent Howard, Todd Gollihare, Mary B. Boren, Micheal Brooks, Darcy Jech, Paul Rosino, Shane Jett, or Lisa Standridge your voice is particularly influential here. A very short script you can use: