Rappers Travis Scott, Young Thug, Killer Mike, and others are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step into a controversial death penalty case after a Texas court used rap lyrics as evidence during sentencing.
The artists joined legal scholars and advocates in filing briefs urging the Court to review the case of James Garfield Broadnax, a Black man who was 19 years old when prosecutors introduced dozens of pages of his handwritten rap lyrics during his trial. Broadnax was convicted in 2009 of killing two people during a robbery near Garland, Texas. A largely white jury later sentenced him to death. His execution is currently scheduled for April 30.
Broadnax’s legal team filed a request in February asking the Supreme Court to review the case through a Writ of Certiorari, arguing that the lyrics were unfairly used to portray him as dangerous.
In a supporting brief filed March 9, Scott’s legal team warned that allowing prosecutors to rely on rap lyrics in court threatens artistic expression. The filing states that “taking rap music out of context subjects the entire genre to prosecution.”
The brief also argues prosecutors leaned heavily on Broadnax’s musical style when discussing future danger.
“The prosecutors argued Mr. Broadnax was likely to be dangerous in the future simply because he engaged in ‘gangster rap,’” Scott’s brief notes. “Such an argument functionally operates as a categorical and straightforwardly unconstitutional content-based penalty on rap music as a form of expression.”
Killer Mike and additional artists and advocates filed a separate brief raising concerns about racial bias. Their filing argues that Broadnax’s lyrics were introduced only during sentencing, not during the portion of the trial that determined guilt.
“This case exemplifies the racial prejudice that infects a criminal proceeding when the State uses a defendant’s rap lyrics to capitalize on anti-rap bias, the misinterpretation of rap lyrics, and anti-Black bias triggered by rap music,” the brief states.
The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will review the case.
