Travis Scott and a handful of artists are jumping to the defense of a Black man in Texas whose rap lyrics were cited during his sentencing for a double murder … which landed him on death row, but the rappers believe using lyrics to impose capital punishment is unconstitutional.
James Broadnax was 19-years old when he killed two white men during a robbery in Garland, Texas … and in 2009, a nearly all-white jury convicted him and decided he deserved the death penalty.
Prosecutors introduced Broadnax’s handwritten rap lyrics as evidence only after he was convicted — during the sentencing phase — and during deliberation, the jury twice asked to see 40 pages of Broadnax’s lyrics.
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TMZ.com
Prosecutors said the “general theme” of the lyrics were “robbing, killing and selling dope” … they told the jury his lyrics proved he was a continuing threat to society who would probably commit more violent crimes in the future, and the jury sentenced him to death.
Broadnax is scheduled for execution April 30, but his lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to press pause and review his case.
Travis’ lawyer Alex Spiro filed an amicus brief with SCOTUS arguing the use of rap lyrics in Broadnax’s trial was essentially a penalty against rap music.
His brief says … “The prosecutors argued Mr. Broadnax was likely to be dangerous in the future simply because he engaged in ‘gangster rap.’ Such an argument functionally operates as a categorical and straightforwardly unconstitutional content-based penalty on rap music as a form of expression.”
Travis’ legal team added … “At a certain level of abstraction, the reality is even more problematic: taking rap music out of context subjects the entire genre to prosecution.”
T.I., Young Thug, Killer Mike and Fat Joe also signed onto briefs telling SCOTUS it’s BS to use the guy’s lyrics against him.
SCOTUS has yet to rule.