NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – Tennessee carried out the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection on Thursday in Nashville for the 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Chattanooga State University student Karen Pulley.
Nichols, 64, had confessed to Pulley’s killing and to raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. At trial, he expressed remorse but admitted he likely would have continued his violent crimes if not caught. He was sentenced to death in 1990. In his final statement, Nichols said, “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry.” A spiritual adviser recited the Lord’s Prayer with him before the execution, and witnesses noted both became emotional.
Nichols’ legal team sought clemency, arguing his guilty pleas and acceptance of responsibility should result in a life sentence instead of execution. They highlighted that he would be the first person executed in Tennessee for a crime he pleaded guilty to since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1978. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the execution.
Pulley’s family spoke publicly after the execution. Her sister, Lisette Monroe, described the past 37 years as “hell” and expressed hope she could now focus on happy memories of her sister. Her brother-in-law, Jeff Monroe, called the crimes “deliberate, violent, and horrific” and noted the lasting impact on the family. Pulley had recently finished Bible school and was studying to become a paralegal.
Nichols had previously had two scheduled execution dates delayed. In August 2020, a planned execution was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; he had chosen the electric chair, an option for inmates convicted before January 1999. Concerns about Tennessee’s lethal injection protocols—including untested drugs—led to another postponement in 2022. A new protocol using a single drug, pentobarbital, was adopted in December, but legal challenges remain. Nichols declined to select an execution method this time, so lethal injection was used by default.
Nichols’ attorneys criticized the state for not providing sufficient information on the execution process. Access to records from previous executions under the new protocol was granted but not yet released, and the state plans to appeal. Nationwide challenges obtaining lethal injection drugs have prompted some states to consider alternative execution methods such as firing squads or nitrogen gas.
With Nichols’ execution, 45 men have been executed in the United States so far this year.