Richard Lee Tabler, a Texas man who murdered his strip club manager and another man in 2004, was scheduled to be executed on Thursday. Tabler confessed to the killings as well as the murders of two teenage girls who worked at the club. He has repeatedly asked for his appeals to be dropped and to receive the death penalty. However, questions have been raised about his mental competence to make such a decision.
Tabler’s case garnered national attention when he used a smuggled cellphone on death row to threaten a lawmaker, which led to a massive lockdown of the state prison system in 2008. He warned then-Senator John Whitmire about knowing details about his family, prompting an unprecedented response from the prison authorities.
Despite appeals from the ACLU claiming inadequate legal representation and Tabler’s history of mental illness, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt his execution. Tabler had a conflict with his boss at the strip club and recruited a friend from Fort Cavazos to assist in the murders of the two men. He later confessed to the killings of the two teenage girls as well.
Tabler’s case highlights the ongoing debate over the death penalty and the treatment of inmates with mental health issues in the criminal justice system. His execution marks the second in Texas in a little over a week, with two more scheduled by the end of April.
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