(March 21, 2007)—Jurors return to the courtroom next week to decide punishment in the capital murder trial of Richard Lee Tabler, 27, whom they found guilty Wednesday of two counts of capital murder in what investigators say was a plot that claimed four lives and could have been even deadlier.

Tabler could 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.

The punishment phase begins Monday.

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