A British woman who is planning to marry a convicted double murderer on death row has spoken publicly about their relationship and how it began.
James Broadnax is scheduled to be executed in Texas later this month. He was convicted in 2009 of killing two music producers, Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler, who were shot outside their recording studio in 2008.
Although Broadnax has spent more than a decade on death row, he is engaged to London receptionist Tiana Krasniqi, with the couple due to marry on Tuesday (April 14).
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning on Monday (April 13), Tiana said her connection with Broadnax grew out of academic research. She explained she first learned about his case while studying racial disparities on Texas’ death row for her Master’s degree in international human rights law.
After she contacted him, the pair began communicating regularly and their friendship developed into something more.
“I know a lot of people would say, ‘You haven’t spent a day or a night with him’ but you speak to somebody every single day for six, seven hours a day,” she told hosts Ben Shepard and Cat Deeley.
“So you kind of go through the ups and downs, but other than that, it’s just his personality and who he is as a person. And just, believe it or not, he does have a moral compass in a way and his integrity into things. But very quickly, yeah, it happened about a few months later.”
Tiana said she hadn’t approached Broadnax expecting to find a relationship, but came to see him as “very respectful and intelligent” as they continued to talk.
She continued: “It was never something where you go on there and be like, ‘Hi, we want to, let’s be in a relationship.’ He pretty much said to me, ‘Look, I just got denied from the Supreme Court, so I’m not looking for anything.
“And I said, ‘I’m not either, because it’s not realistic with the idea of this conversation.’ And it was just purely, ‘Let’s just be friends, if anything.'”
Tiara also described how prison rules have shaped what their relationship looks like in person. She said their meetings take place with a glass barrier, and that they have never been able to physically touch.
Even so, the pair are still preparing for a wedding ceremony this week, which she explained will also be conducted with Broadnax separated behind glass.
“Texas has a very strict rule about no contact with death row inmates,” she added on This Morning. “It’s a very quick 20-minute ceremony. You have an officiant, you say your vows, and that’s it, and it’s time to go.”
Tiara said her relationship has caused tension at home, adding that her family are “not happy” about it and that she has not heard from close relatives since relocating to the US to be nearer to her soon-to-be husband.