RIDGE RUNNER CHRONICLES: Using Gangster Rap Lyrics To Get A Death Penalty Verdict
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In 2008, James Broadnax, a Black rapper and gang member, without provocation, killed two white men in Garland, Texas. After the murders, Broadnax bragged about them in a variety of ways, including writing some gangster rap lyrics that he kept in notebooks. Following his arrest for murder, Broadnax was interviewed by the news media in Dallas. During those interviews, he admitted he murdered these men but expressed no regret for his actions. Then, while incarcerated and awaiting trial, Broadnax composed additional gangster rap lyrics in notebooks and on his cell walls. These lyrics included the following comments: “Hogtie ‘em and body bag ‘em. Send them to the mayor…. I might just go to the judge and tell him I’d going to merk him because I’m JB.” (The term “merk”, in gangster rap language, means kill).
In 2009, Broadnax was tried before a Dallas jury. In Texas murder trials, there is a guilty phase and a penalty phase. In the penalty phase, if the jury has already found that the defendant is guilty of murder, and if the prosecution is seeking the death penalty, the jury must determine whether the defendant “represents an ongoing threat to the community” and if so, the death penalty can be imposed. During the guilty phase of Broadnax’s trial, the jury determined Broadnax was guilty of murder. Then during the penalty phase, the jury during deliberations twice asked to see the gangster rap lyrics that Broadnax had composed. During closing arguments, the prosecutor argued that Broadnax’s gangster rap lyrics proved he was an ongoing threat to the community and that he should be given the death sentence. The nearly all-white jury agreed with him. In December, 2025, 16 years after the guilty verdict, a judge set Broadnax’s execution date for April 30, 2026. This past week, Broadnax’s lawyers filed with the US Supreme Court a motion to stay the execution and a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the case, claiming in part that the use of Broadnax’s rap lyrics violated his constitutional rights, including his freedom of speech.
Numerous gangster rappers, including “Fat Joe,” “Killer Mike” and “Young Thug,” and some rap music historians have filed amicus curiae briefs supporting Broadnax’s appeal, stating in substance that gangster rap is nothing more a form of artistic and cultural expression and should not be taken literally and that historically all rap music is essentially fictionalized storytelling, exaggeration, and metaphors describing an urban life that is filled with harsh realities that most white people can’t appreciate. In short, these rap commentators claim rap is a classic form of free speech and that to quote it in order to secure a death warrant clearly violates Broadnax’s constitutional rights.
I am just an old white guy. I admit I have never understood rap music and on the few occasions when I have read rap lyrics, I think they can be intimidating. Maybe you have the same reaction. When I read the briefs supporting Broadnax, I realized maybe life really is dangerous “in an urban environment” for Blacks. And maybe gangster rap, generally speaking, really is an artistic expression about an urban life of which I know nothing. But that should not excuse what happened here. The fact remains that these were cold blooded murders with no sense of remorse on the part of the defendant. I also believe that if defense lawyers claim their client has been a “choir boy” his entire life, maybe we should allow the jury to consider his rapper lyrics and let the chips fall where they may, but apparently many judges don’t agree with this viewpoint. In fact, California now has a statute that prohibits the use of all rapper lyrics in criminal cases in the absence of a very specific connection to the crime in question.
What do you think? Are gangster lyrics nothing more than a harmless artistic and cultural expression and generally should not be admissible in criminal cases to prove criminal intent because they are being taken out of context? What about these lyrics– actual lyrics coming from another rapper: “Let’s kill these cops cuz they don’t do us no good?” Just artistic expression or something more?
Note: There are some procedural problems with the verdict in the Broadnax that I don’t have the space here to discuss. I think the Supreme Court will stay the execution to further review the issues and could wind up permanently barring the execution but preserving the guilty verdict. Stay tuned.
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■ Bill Hoagland has practiced law in Alton for more than 50 years, but he has spent more than 70 years hunting, fishing and generally being in the great outdoors. His wife, Annie, shares his love of the outdoor life. Much of their spare time is spent on their farm in Calhoun County. Bill can be reached at [email protected].
