The scene of the recent execution in the US is causing a stir: While the convict repeatedly maintained his innocence until his last breath, his newlywed wife cried out, “I love you,” in desperate tears. A controversial ending to a double murder case from years ago. Is this a belated act of repentance, or a permanent injustice carried to the grave?

Convicted Texas killer executed despite co-defendant’s claims

The new wife of a double murderer screamed “I love you” and flailed against the window as her husband was executed in front of her in Texas.

British law graduate Tiana Krasniqi had married death row inmate James Broadnax just weeks before he died by lethal injection Thursday while professing his innocence for killing two men in a 2008 robbery.

The new wife — who struck up her relationship with the killer by writing to him in prison as part of her law studies — was inconsolable as he was finally executed hours after the US Supreme Court denied a request to stop it.

A woman with long brown hair and a man with a beard stand next to each other.
James Broadnax with his wife, Tiana Krasniqi.
Mugshot of Death Row inmate James Garfield Broadnax.
James Broadnax, 37, was convicted of fatally shooting two men in 2008.Texas Department of Criminal Justice/AFP via Getty Images
Tiana Krasniqi poses for a photo while wearing her wedding dress at Tigerville Park in Livingston, Texas.
Tiana Krasniqi poses in her wedding dress on April 14, 2026.AP

“I love you,” she repeatedly screamed as Broadnax, 37, was injected for the double slaying that he went to his death insisting he did not commit.

The new bride then threw herself against the death chamber window with her arms spread as her husband gasped and shook his head a final time.

Broadnax — a rapper who claimed he was convicted in part on his lyrics being misconstrued — was declared dead after 21 minutes, with his widow so devastated that she had to be helped out of the prison afterward.

James Broadnax on a telephone.
James Broadnax was put to death by lethal injection.James Broadnax’s legal team

“They killed my husband,” Krasniqi said in a TikTok after the execution.

“My husband suffered so bad from the lethal injection that he had a nosebleed and bruising on his neck. The families laughed as they watched. Is that justice?”

Krasniqi and Broadnax tied the knot in a Texas prison on April 14. The pair had forged a relationship writing letters back and forth over two years as Krasniqi lived in London working toward a master’s degree in human rights law, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Tiana Krasniqi wearing a white T-shirt with a picture of James Broadnax on it.
Tiana Krasniqi screamed out as her husband was executed for murdering two men in 2008.@tiana.broadnax/TikTok
A woman's hand wearing a wedding ring resting on tree bark, with the word "James" tattooed on her wrist.
Tiana Krasniqi shows her wedding ring and a tatto of “James” on her arm.AP

She had been holding out hope that he would not be executed.

Broadnax was condemned to death for the shooting deaths of two men in 2008 when he was 19 years old. Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Commings, fatally shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio in suburban Dallas, prosecutors said.

He was defiant in a final statement in which he also sought forgiveness from the victims’ relatives, at least seven of whom witnessed his execution.

“I prayed to God for your forgiveness,” he said in his final statement.

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“Despite what you think about me, I hope to God that prayer was answered. But no matter what you think about me, Texas got it wrong. I’m innocent, the facts of my case should speak for itself. Period,” he said.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began, Broadnax urged his supporters to keep fighting. “Don’t give up,” he said, stopping mid-sentence soon before his death at 6:47 p.m. CDT.

Broadnax was the third person put to death this year in Texas and the 10th in the country.

With Post wires