The state of Texas has carried out the execution of Richard Lee Tabler, a man convicted of killing a strip club manager and his friend in 2004. The 46-year-old was put to death by lethal injection on Thursday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. This marks the second execution in Texas in just over a week, with two more scheduled for April.
Tabler was sentenced to death for the murders of Mohammed-Amine Rahmouni, 28, and Haitham Zayed, 25. Rahmouni was a strip club manager in Central Texas where Tabler once worked before being banned. On Thanksgiving night in 2004, Tabler lured Rahmouni and Zayed to a remote area near Killeen, pretending to sell them stolen stereo equipment. Instead, he ambushed and shot them.
Additional Confessions and Death Row Behavior
Tabler also admitted to killing two teenage girls, Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amanda Benefield, 16, who worked at the strip club. Although he was indicted for their murders, he was never put on trial for them.
For years, Tabler went back and forth on whether he wanted to continue fighting his sentence or be executed. He repeatedly requested the courts to stop his appeals, saying he saw no reason to delay his execution. However, his lawyers raised concerns about his mental health, as he had attempted suicide multiple times. In 2010, he was granted a temporary stay of execution.
In December 2024, Tabler wrote to the state Court of Criminal Appeals, stating, “I see no point in wasting the court’s time or anyone else’s.”
Prison Scandal and Security Lockdown
In 2008, while on death row, Tabler used a smuggled cellphone to make threatening calls to Texas state senator John Whitmire, who is now the mayor of Houston. This triggered a massive security lockdown across Texas prisons. More than 150,000 inmates were confined to their cells while officers searched over 100 prisons, confiscating contraband, including hundreds of illegal cellphones.
Another Execution in Florida
On the same day as Tabler’s execution, Florida carried out its first execution of the year. A man convicted of murdering a husband and wife while their toddler witnessed the crime was put to death by lethal injection.
