Execution Report: Richard Tabler

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A jury found Tabler guilty of capital murder in March 2007 and sentenced him to death.

All death sentences in Texas are automatically appealed directly to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA). Additionally, defendants are entitled to habeas corpus appeals, in which they may raise claims that were not presented at their trial, or claims that the trial itself was defective. In September 2008, while Tabler's direct appeal was still pending, the trial court held a hearing on Tabler's request to waive the habeas corpus phase of his state appeals. The court subsequently granted Tabler's request. In June 2009, Tabler wrote a letter to the court asking for his appeals to be reinstated. The CCA reviewed the record of the September 2008 hearing and determined that Tabler's decision to waive his appeals was informed and voluntary, and it denied his request to reinstate them.

In October 2008, Tabler made a threatening phone call to Texas Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the senate's Criminal Justice Committee, using a cell phone that was smuggled into Death Row. This incident prompted a statewide lockdown of the Texas prison system. Investigators determined that some 2,800 calls were made from Tabler's phone. Another eleven cell phones were found on Death Row alone, along with nine chargers and three batteries. Two weapons were also found.

After the lockdown, Tabler was placed in a cell with 24-hour surveillance that is normally used only for prisoners under "death watch," meaning they have scheduled execution dates. His visitor list was pared down to only a spiritual advisor and his lawyers.

Tabler attempted suicide in 2009, using a box cutter to carve a 7-inch, bone-deep gash in his arm. He was saved by guards. It is unclear from news stories whether this occurred before or after he was placed on death watch.

The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Tabler's conviction and death sentence on direct appeal in December 2009. One of the main questions in his appeal was the admissibility of his confession, which was the end product of a sequence of events that included him being arrested before a warrant was issued. The court ruled that although Tabler's arrest was illegal, his confession was "sufficiently attenuated from the illegal arrest to be admissible."

In February 2010, a state judge signed an execution warrant for Tabler. His attorneys succeeded in getting a federal district court to issue a stay. In June, Tabler personally filed a motion to have the stay rescinded and to allow his execution to proceed. The district court then ordered another competency hearing. In August 2011, the court found that Tabler was mentally competent and able to make a rational decision about his appeals. The court ruled, however, that Tabler's decision to waive his appeals was not voluntary, but was instead the product of his belief, mistaken or not, that his family would be harmed if he did not volunteer for execution.

In 2015, Tabler sent a four-page handwritten letter to the Associated Press complaining the state's failure to execute him. He blamed "the political bull crap surrounding the cell phone situation."

In 2021, Tabler released his autobiography, Within the Shadows of Life. According to the cover text, it is the story of a mistake Tabler made and "the guilt he holds within himself for some 'very stupid choices and actions' throughout his entire life." Tabler wrote that he ran away from home at age 16 and later lived a chaotic life of stealing cars and using and dealing drugs.

After Tabler's execution date was set in December 2024, he sent a letter to the CCA asking them not to grant him any stays, saying he "see's no point in wasting this Courts time, nor anyone else's." He did, however, allow his lawyer to file an appeal for clemency to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. That petition was denied.

In the days leading up to Tabler's execution, his mother, sister, and pen-pal wife spoke to USA Today on the condition that their names not be used. They said that Tabler was a changed, gentle, deeply faithful man.

Tabler's wife provided a statement from him that read, "I take full responsibility for my actions of 20 years ago, and sadly, I can't go back in time and just walk away." He added that he has accepted his fate. He credited Jesus Christ, "my Lord and Savior," for providing him "such peace and joy in my heart in the face of my own death."

Tabler made a long last statement at his execution. In it, he expressed remorse for his actions and spoke about his faith in Jesus. "There is not a day that goes by that I don't regret my actions," he began. As he looked at relatives of his victims who watched from a viewing room, he said, "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."

Tabler then expressed love to his family, friends, lawyers, and supporters, and thanked prison officials. After apologizing several more times, he proclaimed Jesus Christ as his savior and said that his death was the beginning of a new life for him in Heaven. He then told the warden, "I am finished." The lethal injection was then started. Tabler mouthed "I'm sorry" before the drugs took effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m.

Tiffany Dotson's father, George, and her godfather were among the victims' witnesses. Mr. Dotson declined to comment on Tabler's apologies, saying he needed time to process what he had just seen, but he did say that he was glad to have seen it.

By David Carson. Posted on 14 February 2025.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press, KFDA-TV, Newsweek, USA Today.