Execution in Texas Murderer addresses the relatives of his victims with his last words
Richard Lee Tabler, who was sentenced to death, is said to have shown remorse shortly before his execution in the US state of Texas. He addressed his last words to the relatives of his victims.
16.02.2025, 19:54
17.02.2025, 07:41
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Richard Lee Tabler, convicted of murder, was executed by lethal injection in Texas and in his last words asked the relatives of the victims for forgiveness.
- Tabler had shot two men in 2004 and confessed to two other murders for which he was not convicted.
- He later caused a stir by threatening a senator from death row.
- His execution took place after several failed appeals and suicide attempts, with his last request being that he would not appeal.
On Thursday, February 13, Richard Lee Tabler was executed at the state prison in Huntsville, Texas. The 46-year-old, who was convicted of two counts of murder, was killed by poison injection.
According to several media reports, he is said to have addressed his last words to the relatives of the victims. "Not a day goes by that I do not regret my actions. I had no right to take your loved ones from you, and I ask and pray, hope and pray that one day you will find forgiveness in your hearts for my actions," the executed man is said to have said , according to the Associated Press news agency. He knew that no apology, no matter how good, could ever give it back to them.
George Dotson, father of one of Tabler's victims and a witness, did not want to comment on the murderer's apology, according to the Associated Press. He needs time to process everything. He was glad to have seen the execution. Dotson: "I couldn't wait. It took me 20 years to get here."
Tabler was the second person to be executed in Texas in just over a week. Two more executions are scheduled for the end of April.
Convicted of double murder
Tabler was convicted of shooting dead 28-year-old Mohammed-Amine Rahmouni and 25-year-old Haitham Zayed in a remote area near the town of Killeen in the US state of Texas on Thanksgiving 2004.
Rahmouni was the manager of a strip club where Tabler worked until he was banned from the club. Zayed was a friend of Rahmouni's. Police say the two men were killed in a late-night ambush. According to them, they had been offered to buy stolen hi-fi equipment.
Tabler also confessed to killing two teenage girls who worked at the club - 18-year-old Tiffany Dotson and 16-year-old Amanda Benefield. Although he was charged for these acts, he was never convicted.
At least two suicide attempts
Tabler repeatedly demanded that the competent courts reject his appeals and execute him. He also changed his mind on this several times.
His lawyers questioned whether he was mentally capable of making a decision. Tabler's prison files contain at least two suicide attempts. He was granted a stay of execution in 2010.
He had spent the past 20 years in court and no longer saw any point in wasting their time, Tabler wrote to the state criminal appeals court on December 9, after his now-executed execution date had been set.
Cell phone smuggled onto death row, threatening call made
Tabler had also caused a stir after his crime: he smuggled a cell phone onto death row, which he used to threaten a Texas state senator.
John Whitmire, whom Tabler threatened with phone calls from prison, was a state senator at the time in 2008. He is now the mayor of Houston.
Whitmire told a Senate committee that Tabler had warned him that he knew the names of his children and where they lived. A spokesman for the Houston mayor's office declined to comment on the execution before it was carried out.
Tabler's calls led to an unprecedented lockdown in the second-largest prison system in the US. Some inmates were unable to leave their cells for weeks while officials raided more than 100 prisons to seize contraband, including cell phones.
