“Find it in your hearts to forgive me”: Death row inmate sought forgiveness for the lives he had taken before his execution

Richard Lee Tabler, 46, addressed the family members of those he killed moments before he was set to receive the lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas on Thursday, Feb. 13, according to Associated Press.

“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t regret my actions,” Tabler reportedly said according to the AP. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t 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 find it in your hearts to forgive me for those actions.”

“No amount of my apologies will ever return them to you,” he added.

According to NBC affiliate KCEN-TV, he shared several more apologies to his family, friends and supporters before explaining that he believed that this would be “the beginning” of his “ultimate life in heaven.” He ended his speech with a Philippians quote from the Bible and thanked the warden before saying, “… I am finished.”

After he was given the lethal injection, he mouthed one more “I’m sorry,” per the AP. He was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m., according to the Texas General Attorney’s Office.

Tabler was arrested in November 2024 in connection to the deaths of two men, Mohamed-Amine Rahmouni and Haitham Zayed, and was later found guilty of capital murder in relation to their deaths in April 2007, according to a statement from the A.G.’s office.

Authorities claim he lured Rahmouni and Zayed to “a parking lot under the pretense of selling cheap stereo equipment” and “murdered them with a borrowed handgun.” Tabler was arrested four days later and confessed to the shooting in front of police. He also “admitted that he had murdered two women who he believed had been connecting him to the previous murders,” the A.G.’s office said.

Rahmouni was the owner of a strip club where Tabler previously worked before he was banned, and Zayed was a friend of Rahmouni’s, per the AP. The other two women that Tabler confessed to killing were teenagers who worked at the club, Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amanda Benefield, 16, per the outlet.

Tabler’s sentence was upheld in every court that reviewed the case, the A.G.’s office said. He had also asked that his appeals be dropped and that he be put to death, though he had gone back and forth on the decision multiple times, the AP reported.

“More than twenty years after his violent murder spree during Thanksgiving weekend, Richard Lee Tabler has been held accountable for his heinous actions,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.

“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. I remain committed to upholding the rule of law and ensuring that violent criminals are held accountable,” he added.