Excessive Guilty 114 Years' Verdict

James Tabb is facing life in prison. Tabb’s parents said their son and an alleged co-suspect “were railroaded” by the justice system in Rayville, LA. They also think the deck was stacked against their son from the beginning. Their son, James is facing a 114-year sentence for his alleged crime. Joshua Butler and his wife were allegedly attacked by two men back in August 2018 over an alleged business venture where there was to be an exchange of money for work. According to media outlets, James was alleged to have struck Butler with an object and shot him with a compound bow in the back. Butler survived the attack. In addition to being struck and shot, law enforcement says that Butler “was stabbed” 24 times, yet he survived. This incident allegedly happened on Hwy 425 outside of Rayville, a busy highway, while cars were going, yet no driver “saw or testified” to the alleged incident. Tabb’s parents, James and Tracy Tabb, are vehemently protesting the verdict and sentencing as they offer a rebuttal to the two-week trial. An assistant DA defended the ruling, but the Tabbs contend that there was no evidence in the trial to prove that either defendant did anything. In a statement to the Monroe Dispatch, they selected five key areas in the state’s case, which amounts to the entire case against these two defendants. Their statement begins with an outline of a co-defendant who pleaded guilty to second-degree rape, and the state did not prove anything. There was a condom allegedly found at the scene that did not have the alleged suspect’s DNA on it. There were also three vaginal swabs introduced in the trial that did not have his DNA on them. No one examing the case can even tell you where they came from; finally, the state did not introduce a rape kit exam. Secondly, the alleged victim, Joshua Butler, testified in the trial that the defendant, James Tabb, attacked him. In his description, it would have taken two or three people to accomplish it as he described it. The state also alleged the defendant James Tabb shot Joshua Butler in the back with a compound bow at a distance of about thirty feet. Not only would this arrow penetrate him, but it would most likely exit him too. The state did not produce a bow and arrow, nor was a medical report shared to support this claim. During the trial, Joshua Butler was asked how he knew he was shot with an arrow and his response was, “that’s what the police told me.” Third, the state introduced a picture of the scene in a ditch with a substance in it that was alleged to be blood. No one testified in the trial that it was blood or the victim’s blood. Also in that picture was a bow release and a headlight. Butler said in a written statement that he didn’t have a light with him because it was daylight. If Butler didn’t have a light with him, how did it get there? There was (1) no proof of rape, (2) no proof of being shot with a bow, and (3) no proof of being attacked in the ditch, so one can only presume these items were placed there. Fourth, the state produced pictures of the inside of defendant James Tabb’s truck; not one picture showed evidence of blood, nor did anyone swab the truck for evidence. No report was written on anyone swabbing the truck; finally, the person who allegedly scoured the truck has been deceased since January 7, 2022, and could not testify to any of this. Lastly, the state introduced a video made by another deceased officer from a software program by a company that makes claims that they can take a phone record and submit it into their software and track your phone wherever it goes. This is no more than “junk” science. That alleged program has been dismissed as being unreliable by a Colorado judge. The Tabbs then conclude their statement by mentioning a video surveillance camera footage mounted on a nearby business mounted forty feet from the white line entering the highway. When James Tabbs exited the business, the parking lot video would have shown him heading south to Butler’s residence or north toward Rayville. What was shown and submitted was an edited video that showed a picture of Google earth. Second, a video seized from a local church's parking lot captured his truck on August 8, 2018, at 7:29 PM, but he had been in custody for at least eight hours. How is this possible? The Tabbs said this is the evidence used to sentence their son James Tabb to 114 years. They stand firm on working to get justice for their child James Tabb. Let’s hope that James and the other young Black man will find justice despite an unjust system.