Cat Deeley Moved by Wifes Lethal Injection Story

was left fighting back tears live on air on This Morning as she interviewed a woman who watched her husband, convicted of double murder, die by lethal injection weeks after getting married. 

The presenter struggled to control her emotions as she spoke to Tiana Krasniqi, from , who wed American prisoner James Broadnax in April. 

James, who was put behind bars is 2008 after he was accused of shooting and killing two music producers, was sentenced to death for the , and faced the penalty on April 30 just two and a half weeks after he married Tiana, 31. 

Tiana, 31, had only ever seen her husband-to-be through a glass screen since they met in 2024, when the mother-of-one began researching racial disparities across the US justice system.

Reaching out to Broadnax as part of her research, the pair soon struck up a romance via email, then speaking 'six to seven hours a day' which deepened their connection.

Tiana travelled to Houston, , for the first time last year to meet Broadnax face-to-face, spending 90 days getting to know him before deciding to wed. 

After sending an appeal to delay the penalty - as Tiana explained there was evidence that proved her husband 'did not commit' the crime - she explained how she watched as he was administered the lethal injection.

She left Cat, 49, fighting back tears as she explained how she was allowed to hug and kiss him for the first time after he was pronounced dead. 

Speaking on This Morning on Monday, Tiana said of their April 14 wedding: 'What should have been 20 minutes, we ended up staying for 45 minutes, we got to spend quite a bit of time together, it was very emotional.'

Tiana explained that the pair were wed with glass in between them, and they were 'not allowed to physically touch', continuing: 'It was bittersweet because we knew what was looming before us...

'He had typed his vows beforehand, he read his vows, that no matter what happens there's life after death together, they were very deep vows, a lot of emotion, he was crying a lot and I was crying a lot...

'We were trying to not focus too much on what was looming and enjoy the moment, be in the moment, but at the same time it was not easy...

'After we got married, we couldn't even enjoy saying that we're husband and wife, because we went straight back to fighting for his life and those two weeks were quite crucial.'

Tiana explained that she had been working to push back his death penalty date, which had been set for April 30, and have the crime re-investigated in the days leading up to the execution. 

However, after a series of meetings and over '80,000 signatures' from supporters, the newly wed couple were given a 'denial' from the Supreme Court. 

Recalling James' death, Tiana explained: 'You get called in to go into the prison, and you wait there until the phone rings when they say that he's been, in other words, strapped in and the IV has been inserted in his veins...

'You have this long walk, it feels like you're going through hospital corridors in the beginning, the door then opens, and they say to you, "once you go in there, once the door is closed, you cannot come out until they declare him dead"...

'It's a small room, no chairs, you see him right in front of you, in front of a massive window, strapped in the gurney and in that moment, I screamed...

'My brain couldn't comprehend what my eyes were seeing, it was a horrendous thing to ever see, not just because he's my husband but in general, nobody should ever have to see anything like that...

'I came to very quickly realise that he could hear me... we were consistently speaking back and forth throughout the whole thing, talking to each other in a weird way brought a bit of comfort knowing we could have our final conversation face to face...

'It just wasn't enough, there was never enough time. You don't know how to deal with it in the moment, you don't know what the right reaction is.' 

Cat's voice broke and she appeared teary as she asked: 'When it was over, did you get to hold him or be with him? Because up until this point, you'd never touched each other before.'

Tiana explained of seeing her husband in the funeral home: 'That's the first time I saw him, I was told that I wasn't allowed to touch him anywhere below [the neck] because the injection may leak and it's dangerous to touch...

'I was surrounded by about ten people, I only had about 20 minutes with him whilst his body was still warm.'

Revealing she was able to kiss her husband after his passing, she continued: 'He was very adamant that if we were going to kiss for the first time, it would be as his wife.'

Cat continued to hold back her emotions as Tiana added: 'It's only been two and a half weeks now, it's gone so fast, but it has affected me mentally quite a lot...

'I've lost a lot of weight, there's mental stress, I can't sleep, I get panic attacks and flash backs of the execution.'

Tiana concluded by saying 'the fight hasn't ended yet' as she revealed her plans to continue working to clear James' name after discovering 'evidence' that 'clears' him of the crime.  

Thanking Tiana for appearing again on the show, Cat's voice wobbled as she said: 'Don't just fight though, take care of yourself too, take a second and take care of yourself, too. Thank you so much for coming today, I know that it's been so terrible.' 

Back in April, Tiana spoke via video link on This Morning as she opened up on her husband's case ahead of their wedding at the prison in Texas, USA. 

Despite criticism from her friends and family, admitting she has 'no support' from those around her, Tiana took to This Morning to defend her decision to marry James. 

Speaking about the start of their relationship to Ben Shephard and Cat on the ITV show, Tiana explained: 'I contacted him, I was looking at cases that fell within that category within the trial court, and James was the person I picked after my research. 

'About two or three months later, we kind of realised that it was more than a study, it was never intentional [that we set out for a relationship]...

'He pretty much said to me that [his appeal] got denied from the Supreme Court so he wasn't looking for anything, and I was like, "I'm not either because it's not realistic" and it was just purely, let's just be friends is anything...

'He's very intelligent, very well spoken, very respectful, he is your normal person, just the fact that he's on death row makes a difference, but just the way he is as a person...

'I know a lot of people would say, "You haven't spent the day or a night with him" but if you speak to somebody every day for six or seven hours a day, you go through the same ups and downs...

'But it's just his personality and who he is as a person and believe it or not, he does have a moral compass, and integrity, and very quickly it happened.' 

Tiana added of his proposal: 'It was a visitation, and I guess it's not the most romantic, he spoke to me about it and he confessed everything [he felt] and then asked.'

Asked by Ben and Cat about the wedding, she continued: 'It's behind glass again, and Texas have a very strict rule about no contact with death row inmates. 

'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.'

Tiana admitted she was going ahead with the ceremony alone after having 'no support' from those around her, explaining: 'Nobody is happy, it's not your typical, conventional relationship, there's not been any support... 

'It's fine, I completely understand and I'm not going to hold any grudges but at the same time, people have been to prison and come out and have become better people... if it happened, God willing, that he got to come out I can imagine the same thing happening and he could change his life as he plans to do.

'Nobody is going to understand it, but it's okay.' 

Broadnax was convicted of ambushing and killing Christian music producers Stephen Swan, 26 and Matthew Butler, 28, a married dad of two, as they left a music studio.

The case attracted attention due to claims of racism during the trial, after the prosecution had prevented seven black people from appearing as jurors.

Instead, the jury that sat in on the case featured 11 white jurors and one black juror.

Ahead of the execution, Broadnax's cousin Demarius Cummings made a bombshell confession to the crime, taking full responsibility for the deaths. 

Cummings, who received life without parole, claimed that he acted alone in the killings after Broadnax's DNA failed to be found on the weapons used during the crime. 

However, when he was interviewed by police following the crime, as The Sun reported, he had boasted he felt no guilt and would 'laugh in the face' of one of the victims' widow. 

Nonetheless, Tiana was battling for appeal to prevent Broadnax, who is reported to have had no previous criminal record apart from a conviction of marijuana possession, from facing the death penalty on April 30.

She continued on This Morning: 'I'm very realistic, and I understand people will always judge... however, I also understand the case very well and this is not the UK, you do get wrongfully convicted in the US and I'm not going into this blindly...

'With his confession, I have to clear up, he was under the influence of PCP (Phencyclidine) when he was interviewed, he had only been interviewed four hours after the arrest and he had made clear to the police he was high... 

'They did put five interviewers in front of him and he took the blame for something that he didn't do, and he acted in a way that showed he was under the influence...

'They had excluded all African American jurors from the case until the last minute... they only added one, and within that time, there was the questioning of the jurors, and it wasn't the most racially neutral.'

During the trial, the prosecution presented the jury with a selection of rap lyrics that alluded to murder, robbery and drugs, to make the case for the death sentence.