Payne tells court about strip club murders

The Killeen Daily Herald offers more information about East Newton High School graduate Timothy Payne's testimonty in Bell County Texas District Court Wednesday in his trial. Payne is accused of murdering four people connected to Teazers, a Killeen, Texas, strip club. Richard Lee Tabler was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to death:

Payne retold the harrowing account of his involvement the night of the shootings and admitted he was in the car with Tabler when the 28-year-old shot Rahmouni and Zayed.

Payne said the night began with an invitation from Tabler to go on a ride, one which evolved into the execution of Tabler's plot to get revenge on Rahmouni for disrespecting him and failing to pay him money. Payne said Tabler lured Rahmouni to a remote location in Killeen on a pretense of selling stolen stereos. But Tabler's true intent became known only at the end, he said.

"(Tabler) told me that he wasn't selling Amine any stolen stereo equipment; he said if Amine didn't have the money, he was going to shoot him," Payne testified. "Then I hear two gunshots I did not know that was going to happen. I was looking out the passenger window."

Payne breathed heavily as he admitted doing as Tabler demanded.

"I was freaking out and panicking," Payne said. "Richard told me to look in Amine's pockets for money. I didn't want to reach in and touch anything, (but) I did. As I was reaching, the man's head fell forward and hit my arm, and I pulled my arm back real quick. I said, 'Richard, let's get out of here.' He said he wasn't leaving yet."

Those acts left Zayed dead in the driver's seat and Rahmouni struggling for life.

"He told me to go get the video camera – I did," Payne testified. "He asked me to pull the driver out of the vehicle. I pointed the camera towards Tabler. Richard said something to Amine. Amine was gurgling and his hand was up in the air. Then Richard shot him once in the head.

"

The murders took place in November 2004. At the time, Payne was a soldier at Fort Hood.

Death penalty still on table in Texas killings

Jury selection for the Texas man accused of murdering four people connected with a Killeen strip club in 2004 is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 12, in Bell County Circuit Court.
Richard Lee Tabler, 27, will face the death penalty following a judge's ruling in January. No trial date has been set for Tabler's codefendant, Timothy Doan Payne, Granby, a graduate of East Newton High School. Payne will not face the death penalty.
Tabler's attorney's claim that Tabler should not face the death penalty because he suffers from a mental illness did not fly with Judge Martha Truco of the 264th District Court.
The following information about the case is reprinted from the Feb. 21, 2005, Turner Report:

A

Bell County, Texas, grand jury issued three capital murder indictments last week against a 2004 East Newton High School graduate in connection with the November 2004 deaths of four people connected with a Killeen, Texas, strip club.
The Temple, Texas, Telegram reported that Timothy Doan Payne, 19, a soldier at Fort Hood, was indicted along with Richard Lee Tabler, 26, of Killeen. Tabler was identified in print reports as a disgruntled former employee of the Teazers nightclub and purportedly was involved in gang activity.
In a December interview with the Dallas Morning News, Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith described the deaths as coming as the result of a "sinister and gruesome plot" to kill Teazers employees who had wronged Tabler. The Morning News reported that Tabler had been fired from the nightclub for dealing drugs and fencing stolen property.
Those allegedly shot to death by Tabler while Payne videotaped the murders, according to printed reports were: Tiffany Dotson, 18, a blond dancer from California; Amber Benefield, also known as Zoe, 16, a runaway from Louisiana; Mohamed Amine Rahmouni, the bar manager and a native of Morocco; and Haitham Zayed, who was described by authorities as most likely being a bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Payne had been assigned to Fort Hood for less than a month, according to the Morning News. Both men allegedly confessed to their involvement in the murders, though Tabler later recanted in an interview with the Morning News. Sheriff Smith said Tabler told him he was angry at being banned from Teazers, so he lured the manager to a rural stretch of road outside Killeen on Nov. 26, allegedly to sell him stolen property. Rahmouni arrived with Zayed and reportedly Tabler shot them to death as Payne taped the action.
Two days later, the two men allegedly lured Miss Dotson and Miss Benefield to a deserted road with the promise of crack cocaine. When they arrived, Tabler reportedly shot them to death, with Payne once again operating the videocamera.
Club employees told the Morning News they had a hard time believing that the victims had anything to do with drugs or with stolen property.
Though nothing has been mentioned to link Payne with gang activity, there has been a serious problem over the past few years with Fort Hood soldiers becoming involved with local gangs, according to printed reports.
Payne and Tabler could receive the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. Tabler is being held in lieu of $8 million bond, while a $4 million bond has been set for Payne.

Texas prison crackdown demanded after cell phone smuggled in to strip club killer used in threatening phone calls

Texas media sources are reporting Texas officials are demanding a crackdown on the smuggling of items into state prisons after a cellphone sneaked into death row inmate Richard Tabler by his mother was used to threaten a legislator:

Sen. John Whitmire of Houston received calls this month from death row inmate Richard Tabler, who used a smuggled cell phone.

Whitmire, who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said the inmate described the lawmaker's daughters by name and where they live.

The phone was seized this week and Tabler's mother was arrested in Austin on charges she bought minutes for the device.

Whitmire, during the hearing in Austin, told prison officials he wants "zero tolerance" for contraband smuggling.

Gov. Rick Perry has ordered a system-wide prison lockdown and search.

Tabler was convicted of first degree murder and is awaiting execution in connection with the 2004 slayings of four people connected with a Killeen, Texas, strip club.

Previous Turner Report items about Tabler and his accomplice, 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne can be found at this link.

Tabler tried to convince police that Granby man pulled trigger in strip club murders

The Temple Telegram reports the courtroom was silent as a prosecutor read the chilling confession made by Richard Tabler, who is being tried for the 2004 murders of two men and two women connected to a Killeen strip club. At first, testimony revealed, Tabler tried to convince police the murders had been committed by his partner, Timothy Doan Payne, a 2004 graduate of East Newton High School. Payne allegedly videotaped the murders.

Bell County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Tim Steglich testified to obtaining different confessions from Tabler during a questioning process that began late on Nov. 28, 2004, and continued through early morning hours of Nov. 29, 2004. In the first, Tabler said, he knew a man who committed the murders - a soldier named Tim. Timothy Doan Payne also has been indicted in the deaths of the two men and is awaiting trial in the Bell County Jail.

Tabler said he had been working for Rahmouni, who managed TeaZers, a Killeen strip club. He told investigators he did under-the-table work for Rahmouni of setting up illegal drug deals or moving stolen equipment, until the club’s head of security told him to leave the club.

Shortly after, Tabler told investigators Payne confessed he had killed Rahmouni and another man, and that he had a list of people who he said had messed him over on a drug deal. Payne planned to work through a list of dancers, bouncers and others associated with the club killing each one execution-style, Tabler told Steglich

Testimony indicated that Tabler later changed his tune and admitted to committing the murders.

Testimony begins in Granby man's murder trial

Testimony began Tuesday in Bell County, Texas, in the capital murder trial of East Newton High School graduate Timoty Payne.
Payne is charged with the November 2004 murder of four people connected with the Teazers Strip Club in Killeen, Texas. Richard Lee Tabler has already been convicted and sentenced to death. Payne will face life in prison if convicted:

During opening arguments, defense attorney Steve Lee portrayed Payne as an unwilling and frightened accomplice to Tabler’s crimes.

Lee said Payne was startled when Tabler shot the two men and kept urging Tabler to leave the scene before Tabler forced him to search the bodies.

Meanwhile, McWilliams portrayed Payne as an active and willing participant who egged Tabler into committing murder.

“You don’t have to worry about who actually pulled that trigger,” McWilliams said. “Did he help Richard Tabler commit this crime? Did he encourage him? … Or on the other hand, did he believe that he was going to commit aggravated robbery that turned into capital murder?”

Convicted strip club killer threatened to kill jailer's family

More revealtions about convicted killer Richard Lee Tabler's sordid record emerged during the penalty phase of his trial this week in Bell County Texas District Court. Jurors will decide whether Tabler will receive the death penalty.
Tabler, 27, was convicted last week of capital murder in connection with two of the four people he was charged with killing in November 2004. All four were connected to Teazers, a Killeen, Texas, strip club.
The other man charged with the murders, 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne, is scheduled to stand trial May 21. Payne will not face the death penalty.
During the first portion of the trial, Bell County prosecutors were limited to the details surrounding the murders. In the penalty phase, they provided witnesses who related his past indiscretions:

Three Bell County Jail employees testified as to the most recent incidents credited to Tabler, the first of whom was Officer James Herry, who has served as a jailer for the past three years.

Herry said that at just after 3 a.m. on May 11, 2005, while making his standard patrol rounds, he heard Tabler talking to another inmate through the cells and threaten shift supervisor Cpl. Judy Clark.

"He said he knew her (Clark) and her family, and if he ever escaped, he said he would definitely hurt her and kill her," Herry said. "If he were ever let out, I would fear for my life, and I would fear for the life of Judy Clark."

Clark, who still deals with Tabler during her shifts at the jail to this day, recounted several incidents with Tabler, but one still resonates.

Clark said that Tabler had been telling other inmates that he would kill her family. She said Tabler told her that he would kill her children, then force her to watch as he tortured her husband, because "I would be next." When he made this threat, she said he described her house and referred to her husband and children by name.

"For the month of September, I kept my children away from my home," Clark said. "I had them stay at neighbor's or friend's houses."

Even more chilling were Tabler's own words as he recounted in a written statement read to the court how he killed two of the victims, young women:

I heard that Zoey (Amanda Benefield) was running her mouth off ... and I talked the girls into following me," the statement read. "I took Zoey's phone so she couldn't call anyone. I chambered my gun and tucked it in my waist. Then I told Tiffany (Dotson) I shot Amine."

He continued, saying that Dotson then threatened to go to the police. He then described how he took them out to Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir and stopped the car on the dark, vacant road. He said Tim Payne, also charged in the slayings, sat in the car watching while he carried out the final act.

"I asked her (Dotson) if she was scared, and she said no," the statement read. "Tiffany was talking ... and I shot her in the face. Then I turned and shot Zoey in the head five or six times."

Kim Geray, who testified last week about the content of a video showing Tabler killing Zayed and Rahmouni, said she returned to her house that night to find Tabler, who took her into the bathroom.

"He told me he killed Zoey and Tiffany," she said. "I asked him why and he said they were going around telling people that he had killed the other two and they were going to tell, so he had to take care of them ... I didn't know what to say."

Bell County investigator Tim Steglich was present during Tabler's confession. He said that Tabler admitted to having a list of about 10 other people who he planned on killing in the coming days, people who had wronged him.

The defense was scheduled to begin presenting its case today.

Houston Chronicle details capture of death row inmate's mother in smuggling case

The capture of Texas death row inmate Richard Lee Tabler, mother, Lorraine, who provided a cell phone used by her son and other prison inmates, is detailed in an article posted tonight on the Houston Chronicle website.

Tabler, along with 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne of Granby, were responsible for the deaths of four people connected with the Teazers strip club in Killeen, Texas. Payne was convicted earlier this year by a Bell County, Texas, jury, but was not facing the death penalty:

During the phone calls, Whitmire said he tried not to ruffle Tabler or arouse his suspicion. "I said, 'How did you get a phone?'" Whitmire recalled of his first conversation. "He said, '$2,100.' I said, 'How are you charging it?' He said, 'I have a charger.' "

Moriarty traced the cell phone to within the Livingston prison where Tabler is awaiting the death penalty.

The inspector also found that Tabler's mother, Lorraine Tabler, was paying for the phone's minutes from her home in Georgia. And he discovered that the same phone had been used by as many as nine other inmates, all of them known gang members, to place 2,800 calls.

Their relatives sent payments to Tabler's mother to offset the phone bill. Many of their calls went to fellow gang members outside of prison, Whitmire said. They also called relatives and anti-death penalty advocates, he said.

Monday's crackdown was hatched after Whitmire learned Tabler's mother would be landing in Austin around 9 a.m. to visit her son. While police staked out the airport, Ward got Tabler on the phone so investigators could catch him with it, Whitmire said. A random search of Tabler's cell last week had come up short. Tabler told Whitmire he had handed the phone off to a guard in advance.

As police arrested his mother in Austin on Monday, investigators surprised Tabler in his cell. Before they snatched the phone, Whitmire said, Tabler made a final threat to the reporter: "I will Google you. I can find out what you drive."

Pre-trial motions for an East Newton High School graduate accused of four murders in Killeen, Texas, will be held Friday, April 1 in Bell County Circuit Court.
The trials of Timothy Doan Payne, formerly of Granby, a soldier at Fort Hood, and his codefendant Richard Lee Tabler, are expected to be held sometime before the end of the year.
Payne and Tabler were indicted by a Bell County grand jury last month in connection with the November 2004 deaths of four people connected with Teazers, a Killeen strip club.
In a December interview with the Dallas Morning News, Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith described the deaths as coming as the result of a "sinister and gruesome plot" to kill Teazers employees who had wronged Tabler.
The Morning News reported that Tabler had been fired from the nightclub for dealing drugs and fencing stolen property. Those allegedly shot to death by Tabler while Payne videotaped the murders, according to printed reports were: Tiffany Dotson, 18, a blond dancer from California; Amber Benefield, also known as Zoe, 16, a runaway from Louisiana; Mohamed Amine Rahmouni, the bar manager and a native of Morocco; and Haitham Zayed, who was described by authorities as most likely being a bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Payne had been assigned to Fort Hood for less than a month, according to the Morning News. Payne and Tabler could receive the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. Tabler is being held in lieu of $8 million bond, while a $4 million bond has been set for Payne.
***
A Mexican citizen stopped in Joplin with a truckload of illegal aliens faces a March 30 arraignment and scheduling hearing in U. S. District Court in Springfield.
The Joplin Police Department was responsible for the arrest of Yovani Diaz-Cruz on March 12, when JPD officers came across a 1995 GMC Safari Van parked at the corner of Main and F. Officers saw Hispanic men sitting in the driver and front passenger seats. Cruz was the man in the driver's seat, according to court documents.
Twelve other Hispanic men were found hiding under a nearby bridge. Believing them to be undocumented aliens, Joplin Police called the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Springfield. All 12 men admitted to being Mexican citizens illegally in this country, according to court documents.
"They claim to have paid between 1,000 and 2,000 dollars for transportation from Phoenix, Ariz., to Georgia or Kentucky," Special Agent James Webb said in an affidavit filed in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. "Three of the 12 claimed to have paid 5,500 pesos as their fee for transportation. The group identified (Diaz) as the driver of the vehicle."
Diaz and the passenger, who is not identified in the court documents, also admitted to being Mexican citizens in the U. S. illegally. All 14 men were arrested and taken to the Christian County Jail in Ozark.
On March 14, according to the affidavit, Diaz said he was "hired by an unidentified person he called 'Mario' to transport the group from Phoenix, Ariz., to various locations in Atlanta, Kentucky, and Tennessee. He claimed that on March 11, 'Mario' gave him the van with the group of illegal aliens already loaded in the van. A check with the FBI database determined that Diaz had been deported from this country twice, on March 10, 2003, and April 20, 2003, both times from Nogales, Ariz.
***
Lawyers for the Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn and the Jasper County Commission have already jumped on the order issued earlier today (see below) by U. S. District Court Judge Richard E. Door giving convicted child molester Martin Eck 20 days to answer their questions or risk having his $10 million lawsuit dismissed.
A 10 a.m. April 8 deposition has been scheduled at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
***
Convicted child molester Martin Eck has been given 20 days to answer questions from lawyers representing Sheriff Archie Dunn and the Jasper County Commission or his $10 million lawsuit against them may be dismissed.
The order was issued today by U. S. District Court Judge Richard E. Dorr. The county officials' lawyers went to Jefferson City to interview Eck at his prison Jan. 28 and were told that he would not answer questions without his lawyer. He said his mother was trying to hire a lawyer for him.
Eck is suing the county officials because he did not receive proper dental care during his stay in the Jasper County Jail.
***
A closed-door session is scheduled for later this morning between Missouri Department of Natural Resources Doyle Childers and officials of ConAgra to discuss the odor coming from the company's Renewable Environmental Resources plant, which changes the waste from ConAgra's butterball turkey plant into oil.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that the meeting will be closed because company officials will talk about technology that is owned by the company. Obviously, this will prevent other companies from learning how to make an entire area smell like sewage. State Senator Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, is also scheduled to attend the meeting.
Childers will take questions from the public after the meeting, the article said, but no time frame was given for when the meeting will be over. The state agency has been under pressure from Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt and U. S. Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent to do something about the odor.
Carthage city officials have said they are considering taking legal action against ConAgra.
The News-Leader article notes that when ConAgra was considering building the plant, Blunt and Bond helped secure $15 million from the Environmental Protection Agency to help.
***
The Montgomery, Ala. Advertiser reports that ConAgra is closing its food processing plant in that city, eliminating 365 jobs. Company officials blamed the age of the plant, which was built in 1961 and the projected renovation cost. The article speculated that it might have more to do with the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reported first in The Turner Report Thursday, that ConAgra will have to restate its financial results for last year and the first half of this year, due to income tax errors, which may amount to between $150 million and $200 million.
***
The Eastern Jasper County Laubach Literacy Council and the Carthage Crisis Center will be among the entities receiving grants from the Louis L. and Julia Dorothy Coover Regional Grant Making Program, according to an article in today's Springfield News-Leader.
The program holds fund volunteer training, buy property, teach reading, educate parents, house homeless and introduce kids to the arts, according to the article.
The Laubach Literacy Council will share $32,282 with two other literacy programs coordinated through Southwest Missouri State University, the article said.
The Carthage Crisis Center will receive $14,500, which will go toward buying and remodeling a new, larger facility.

Tabler convicted in strip club murders; Granby man next to stand trial

A Bell County, Texas, jury found Richard Lee Tabler, 27, Killeen, (pictured) guilty Wednesday of the 2004 murders of two men and two women connected to a Killeen strip club.
The jury will determine next week whether Tabler will be sentenced to death:

Tabler and 1st Cavalry Division Pvt. Timothy D. Payne were charged in connection with the November 2004 shooting deaths of Teazers Gentlemen’s Club owner Mohamed-Amine Rahmouni, 25, and his friend Haitham Zayed, 28, whose bodies were found outside of Killeen and of Teazer’s dancer Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amber Benefield, 16, whose bodies were found just south of Highway 190.

Payne and Tabler used a video camera to record tape of Tabler shooting Rahmouni and Zayed, witnesses said, but the tape was later destroyed.

The shootings were part of what Bell County authorities described as a bizarre plot

The list of intended victims included eight or nine more people, Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith said after the two were arrested.

Detailed testimony from the trial was provided in the March 21 Killeen Daily Herald:

Kim Gary, formerly Kim Marmie, gave a harrowing account of the morning after the murders. She testified that Tabler and former Fort Hood soldier Tim Payne had returned to her home early that morning with Tabler boasting as he walked through the door.

"He walked in and said he had just killed two guys," Gary said.

She described how the two had video-taped the event, then pulled out the tape and had her watch it.

"I saw the back of a white (Mitsubishi) Eclipse, and I saw Blue (Tabler) grab the passenger and pulled him out," she said. She described a man, whom she admitted she didn't know, waving his arms around slowly as he lay on his back on the ground as Tabler stood over him, holding a gun. She said she watched as Tabler leaned down, pointed his gun, then shot the man in the back of the head at the base of his skull near the neck.

"Then he said, Who's got the power now, Amine?" Gary said.

She said that although it was dark, she could clearly identify Tabler since the camera was equipped with a light. She also said it was clear that Payne was taping the whole thing.

Payne's trial is scheduled for May 21. Payne is a 2004 graduate of East Newton High School.

Convicted strip club killer threatens senator, reporter

Death row inmate Richard Lee Tabler, whose possession of a cell phone brought about a lockdown at Texas prisons, is back in the news once more.

The Temple Daily Telegram reports Tabler sent a letter threatening a state senator and a reporter. Tabler was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2004 murders of two people connected to a Killeen, Texas, strip club. His partner in crime, 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne, was sentenced to life in prison:

The soap opera that is Richard Tabler continues to get messages out from death row even though his cell phone has been confiscated.
This week the message came in letter form.

Tabler, convicted of two murders in Bell County, made an indirect threat to a reporter and a state senator in a letter he sent to the official in charge of the investigation of how cell phones ended up in the hands of death row inmates.

“I took it serious,” Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said about the threat. “I’m not worried about him. I’m more worried about who he or the nine guys he let use the phone may know on the outside.”

The threat named an Austin reporter and inferred that he and Whitmire may need protection because they played a role in getting his cell phone taken away and having his sister and mother arrested.

A Bell County, Texas, grand jury issued three capital murder indictments last week against a 2004 East Newton High School graduate in connection with the November 2004 deaths of four people connected with a Killeen, Texas, strip club.
The Temple, Texas, Telegram reported that Timothy Doan Payne, 19, a soldier at Fort Hood, was indicted along with Richard Lee Tabler, 26, of Killeen. Tabler was identified in print reports as a disgruntled former employee of the Teazers nightclub and purportedly was involved in gang activity.
In a December interview with the Dallas Morning News, Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith described the deaths as coming as the result of a "sinister and gruesome plot" to kill Teazers employees who had wronged Tabler. The Morning News reported that Tabler had been fired from the nightclub for dealing drugs and fencing stolen property.
Those allegedly shot to death by Tabler while Payne videotaped the murders, according to printed reports were: Tiffany Dotson, 18, a blond dancer from California; Amber Benefield, also known as Zoe, 16, a runaway from Louisiana; Mohamed Amine Rahmouni, the bar manager and a native of Morocco; and Haitham Zayed, who was described by authorities as most likely being a bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Payne had been assigned to Fort Hood for less than a month, according to the Morning News. Both men allegedly confessed to their involvement in the murders, though Tabler later recanted in an interview with the Morning News. Sheriff Smith said Tabler told him he was angry at being banned from Teazers, so he lured the manager to a rural stretch of road outside Killeen on Nov. 26, allegedly to sell him stolen property. Rahmouni arrived with Zayed and reportedly Tabler shot them to death as Payne taped the action.
Two days later, the two men allegedly lured Miss Dotson and Miss Benefield to a deserted road with the promise of crack cocaine. When they arrived, Tabler reportedly shot them to death, with Payne once again operating the videocamera.
Club employees told the Morning News they had a hard time believing that the victims had anything to do with drugs or with stolen property.
Though nothing has been mentioned to link Payne with gang activity, there has been a serious problem over the past few years with Fort Hood soldiers becoming involved with local gangs, according to printed reports.
Payne and Tabler could receive the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted. Tabler is being held in lieu of $8 million bond, while a $4 million bond has been set for Payne.
***
O'Sullivan Industries will close its Australian operations by June 30, according to a filing last week with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. The reason given: "sales in the region were not sufficient to support the infrastructure required." Seventeen employees will lose their jobs, according to the filing.
The closing will cost O'Sullivan between $1.5 million and $2.2 million, the filing said. "Of this amount, between $400,000 and $700,000 will represent cash charges related to severance, termination of leases and other agreements, and costs to administer the winding down of these operations. Between $1.1 million and $1.5 million will be used as a reserve against our inventories in Australia."
The closure came after the quarterly report issued by O'Sullivan last week which showed that the company went further into the red in the second quarter, posting a net loss of $12.1 million.
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I don't have all of the results but apparently KQYX 1450 news/talk broke into the top five in the most recent Arbitron ratings. The number one station as usual was KIX 102.5.
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A special meeting of shareholders of Kmart Holding Corp and Sears, Roebuck and Co. will be held March 24 to vote on the proposed merger of the companies. The meeting, according to today's St. Louis Business Journal, will be held at Sears headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Ill.
***
The danger of taking a press release and running it unchanged as news was demonstrated last week in The Lamar Democrat. The newspaper apparently took a Democratic Party news release about Governor Matt Blunt's awarding of a license fee office to former State Representative Bubs Hohulin and ran it verbatim. No mention was made of the source of the article.
It began, "The Missouri Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint on Wednesday against Governor Matt Blunt, Revenue Director Trish Vincent and Martin "Bubs" Hohulin, who was illegally awarded a no bid contract to operate the Lamar Revenue Fee Office. Blunt gave this political payoff to Hohulin, a former Republican state representative, even though he is a full-time state employee for a Republican Missouri State Senator Carl Vogel in Jefferson City receiving a salary in excess of $48,000 a year, plus benefits."
It would not have been much too trouble for The Democrat to have balanced this news release with one from the Republican side, or better yet, making a couple of phone calls or doing a little bit of research and presenting a more complete story to its readers.
***

Aug. 20 trial date set in strip club killing

An Aug. 20 trial date has been set for 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne, who is charged with murder in connection with the November 2004 deaths of four people connected to a Killeen, Texas, strip club. The case was originally scheduled for trial in May. Payne was a soldier at Fort Hood.

This account of the murders was given by KWTX:

Tabler and 1st Cavalry Division Pvt. Timothy D. Payne were charged in connection with the November 2004 shooting deaths of Teazers Gentlemen’s Club owner Mohamed-Amine Rahmouni, 25, and his friend Haitham Zayed, 28, whose bodies were found outside of Killeen and of Teazer’s dancer Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amber Benefield, 16, whose bodies were found just south of Highway 190.

Payne and Tabler used a video camera to record tape of Tabler shooting Rahmouni and Zayed, witnesses said, but the tape was later destroyed.

The shootings were part of what Bell County authorities described as a bizarre plot

The list of intended victims included eight or nine more people, Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith said after the two were arrested.

Richard Tabler was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. The death penalty is not on the table for Payne.

Jury convicts Granby man in Texas strip club murders

A Bell County, Texas, jury found Timothy Doan Payne, Granby, a 2004 graduate of East Newton High School guilty Thursday on two counts of first degree murder:

While the jury was out, deliberations became so heated within the jury chambers that voices could be heard inside the courtroom. Bell County sheriff's deputies cleared the courtroom so that the content of those discussions could remain private.

Payne, a former soldier at Fort Hood, was charged with capital murder in the Nov. 26, 2004, deaths of Mohammed-Amine Rahmouni, 28, and Haitham Zayed, 25, and faces an automatic life sentence.

Payne's Granby background was employed by his attorney in an attempt to sway the jury:

"He's a farm boy from Missouri," Lee said. "He had graduated in May and found himself in Fort Hood in September. His own father was murdered. He had every reason in the world not to do it. There is no way that my client ever acted with the intent to aid in the commission of capital murder. This is a bad case."

Defense attorney Paul LePak painted a picture of Tabler as a criminal mastermind who planned every element of the operation, and attempted to pin the murders on Payne, who was young and naive.

"This is the benchmark, this kind of case. There are no greater stakes than capital murder," he said. "I'm glad KPD did such a good job on this case because there would be a lot more people dead. And it would have been Richard Tabler that killed them."

McWilliams argued that the charge sheet detailing the crime provided multiple avenues for the jury in the event they found Payne guilty. He said Payne made the decision to associate himself with Tabler, and that decision led to a chain of events that left two men dead.

McWilliams said Payne's guilt was clear. He used Payne's own testimony, namely the search for Rahmouni, to show that Payne helped Tabler bring the victims together.

Texas strip club killer indicted in cell phone case

Richard Tabler, who along with East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne was convicted of the murder of two men connected to the Teazers strip club in Killeen, Texas, has been indicted by a grand jury for smuggling cell phones into prison.

Tabler's mother and sister were also indicted.

Tabler, a death row inmate, used the cellphones to threaten a state senator. He was also indicted on a felony retaliation charge for that action.

Payne was sentenced to life in prison. At Payne's trial, testimony was offered that the Granby man, who was a soldier at Fort Hood at the time, videotaped Tabler murdering the two men and two women who were also connected to the strip club.

Strip club killer wants to die quickly

Richard Tabler, convicted in 2007 of the murders of two people connected to the Teazers strip club in Killeen, Texas, wants to waive his appeals so he can receive the death penalty:

But Appeals Attorney Karl Krug says Tabler won’t get his way until two proceedings take place. One of those, a jury trial, is already over. But the Court of Criminal Appeals is currently deciding the case.

“So whether he wants to get executed right now is irrelevant,” Krug said.

Tabler has used multiple tactics to help seal his own fate. One of the most widely publicized was when he used a smuggled cell phone from inside his prison cell to call a State Senator from Houston, John Whitmire, to make threats against Whitmire’s family. The incident prompted Governor Rick Perry to order a lockdown of all state prisons.

“The object of those calls is not to intimidate these people, the point is to get himself executed as quickly as possible,” Krug said.

Two others were also allegedly murdered by Tabler and his partner in crime, 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne of Granby, who was a soldier at Fort Hood at the time. Payne recently lost his appeal after being convicted and sentenced to life for his role in the murders.

Granby man's capital murder trial begins Tuesday

East Newton High School graduate Timothy Payne will go on trial in Bell County, Texas, Tuesday on a first degree murder charge.
Payne is charged in connection with the November 2004 deaths of four people connected to a Killeen, Texas, strip club. The case was originally scheduled for trial in May. Payne was a soldier at Fort Hood.

This account of the murders was given by KWTX:

Tabler and 1st Cavalry Division Pvt. Timothy D. Payne were charged in connection with the November 2004 shooting deaths of Teazers Gentlemen’s Club owner Mohamed-Amine Rahmouni, 25, and his friend Haitham Zayed, 28, whose bodies were found outside of Killeen and of Teazer’s dancer Tiffany Dotson, 18, and Amber Benefield, 16, whose bodies were found just south of Highway 190.

Payne and Tabler used a video camera to record tape of Tabler shooting Rahmouni and Zayed, witnesses said, but the tape was later destroyed.

The shootings were part of what Bell County authorities described as a bizarre plot

The list of intended victims included eight or nine more people, Bell County Sheriff Dan Smith said after the two were arrested.

Richard Tabler was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. The death penalty is not on the table for Payne. If he is convicted, he will receive a life sentence.

AP article offers more information on Texas prison crackdown

A lockdown on Texas prisons following the discovery that contraband items have been smuggled in, including a cell phone used by death row killer Richard Lee Tabler to threaten a legislator, is detailed in an Associated Press article:

The security measures were prompted by the arrest of a death row inmate's mother who is accused of buying minutes for a cell phone, which was given to Richard Tabler and used by him and nine other inmates in his cell block.

Gov. Rick Perry's office said the phone was smuggled into the prison by a bribed corrections officer. The officer's name and whether he or she had been apprehended were not disclosed.

Authorities learned about the phone after Tabler called Whitmire and told him he knew the names of the legislator's daughters and where they lived, said John Moriarty, the prison system's inspector general.

Court rejects Granby man's appeal in strip club murder case

The Texas Third District Court of Appeals last week rejected convicted killer Timothy Doan Payne's appeal.

Payne, a 2004 graduate of East Newton High School, was one of two men convicted in connection with the Thanksgiving 2004 death of two men connected to the Teazers strip club in Killeen, Texas:

An appeals court Friday rejected the appeal of Timothy Payne, 22, who was convicted last November of capital murder in the Thanksgiving 2004 deaths of Haitham Zayed and Amine Rahmouni.

Payne, a former Fort Hood soldier, videotaped the shootings carried out by Richard Tabler, who received the death penalty in April 2007 for the slayings.

According to Tabler, Payne was with him during the shootings and knew that Tabler planned on killing Rahmouni. Tabler also stated that Payne later helped destroy the videotape of the shooting.

Murder conviction of Granby man among Texas newspaper's top stories for 2007

Today's Killeen Daily Herald in Texas features an article reviewing top trials of 2007 in its reading area. Among those are the trials of Timothy Payne, an East Newton High School graduate for his involvement in the 2004 strip club murders in that city, as well as the conviction earlier in the year of his accomplice, Richard Lee Tabler, the man who actually committed the murders. The following passage about Payne is included in the article:

A Bell County jury, after six hours and six minutes of deliberating, found Timothy Doan Payne guilty of capital murder on Nov. 15, the last murder trial of 2007 in Bell County.

Payne was most known for his involvement with Tabler in the killings as the follower who tagged along with the quadruple murderer, videotaping the second killing.

The jury of seven women and five men came out to announce their verdict shortly after 10 p.m. in the trial of the 21-year-old former Fort Hood soldier.

Payne told the jury his account of the night, portraying himself as a man who got caught up in the secret revenge plot of Richard Tabler's, one that put him in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Strip Club killer thwarted in suicide attempt

Killeen, Texas strip club killer Richard Tabler has been moved to a psychiatric unit after attemptng suicide earlier this month.

Tabler was sentenced to death for murdering two people connected to the Teazers Strip Club in November 2004. His accomplice in the crime, 2004 East Newton High School graduate Timothy Doan Payne, a soldier at Fort Bragg at the time, was sentenced to life in prison.

Tabler was also at the center of a recent controversy concerning cellphones being smuggled to prisoners.

(KEYE photo)