Richard Tabler (Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice)
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The state of Texas executed convicted killer Richard Tabler on Thursday evening.
Tabler is convicted of killing two men in Killeen and admitted to killing two teen girls.
Tabler is the second inmate put to death in Texas this year.
Richard Tabler execution
Tabler was executed by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville on Thursday night.
"I had no right to take your loved ones from you, and I ask and pray, hope and pray, that one day you find it in your hearts to forgive me for those actions," Tabler said strapped to the death chamber gurney, looking at relatives of his victims who watched through a window a few feet away. "No amount of my apologies will ever return them to you."
He told the victims’ family members that there wasn’t a day that went by in which he didn’t regret his actions and thanked prison officials for their compassion and show that he could "change and become a better man and rehabilitate."
After apologizing several more times, Tabler said that it was the beginning of a new life for him in heaven.
He told the warden at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, "I am finished," and as the drugs began pouring into his body he mouthed once again, "I'm sorry."
He was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m.
What they're saying:
"More than twenty years after his violent murder spree during Thanksgiving weekend, Richard Lee Tabler has been held accountable for his heinous actions," said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. "The State of Texas has carried out the sentence imposed by a jury of the defendant’s peers, delivering justice for the victims and their families."
Richard Tabler murders
The backstory:
In 2004, Tabler murdered his strip club manager and another man in Killeen.
The shooting happened on Thanksgiving and killed Mohammed-Amine Rahmouni, 28, and Haitham Zayed, 25.
Rahmouni was the manager of a strip club, named TeaZers, where Tabler worked until he was later banned.
Police say Tabler ambushed Rahmouni and Zayed while they were planning to buy stolen stereo equipment. Tabler shot them both in their car, then pulled Rahmouni out and had a friend record a video of him shooting Rahmouni again.
Before he was arrested, Tabler called law enforcement to taunt Bell County deputies about the murders and threatened to kill more strip club employees.
Tabler also confessed to killing two teenage girls who worked at the club, 18-year-old Tiffany Dotson and 16-year-old Amanda Benefield. He never faced trial in the teens' deaths and later denied killing them.
Death threats to John Whitmire
The backstory:
While on death row, Tabler sent death threats to then-state senator John Whitmire through smuggled cell phones and letters.
In 2008, the threats to Whitmire, who is now the mayor of Houston, prompted a lockdown of more than 150,000 inmates while officers searched state prisons for contraband.
Whitmire said that Tabler warned him that he knew the names of his children and where they lived.
The Associated Press says Whitmire declined to comment on Tabler's execution.
Path to execution
Tabler asked the court multiple times to drop his appeals and to be put to death, but has changed his mind on multiple occasions. Prison records show he has also attempted suicide at least two times.
Tabler's execution was stayed in 2010.
"Petitioner has spent the last twenty years in the Courts, and sees no point in wasting this Court's time, nor anyone else’s," Table wrote to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2024.
What they're saying:
"Today, Texas plans to execute a man who spent the last two decades proving his capacity for growth, remorse, and redemption. Those who know Richard know that he is not the same person who was sentenced to death – he has transformed into a mentor and source of support for those around him. Richard has used his time on death row to reflect, create, and better himself. We are deeply saddened that Richard will be denied the chance to continue his growth and serve as a mentor to others. He will be missed by many, both inside and outside of prison, and our thoughts are with his loved ones," said Claudia Van Wyk, senior counsel at the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project.
Texas Executions in 2025
What's next:
Steven Nelson was executed earlier this month for the murder of an Arlington church pastor. He was the first inmate to be executed in Texas in 2025.
Serial killer David Wood is scheduled to be put to death on March 13.
Moises Mendoza, who was convicted of strangling a 20-year-old in Collin County, dumping the body in a dirt pit and setting it on fire, is set to be executed on April 23.
Matthew Johnson, who poured bleach onto a woman working in a gas station and set her on fire in 2012, is scheduled to be executed on May 20, 2025.
By the numbers:
Five men were executed in Texas in 2024.
The Source: Information in this article comes from FOX News Digital, the Associated Press, Texas Department of Criminal Justice and past FOX coverage.