Tennessee death row inmate declines to pick execution method, defaults to lethal injection
Tennessee death row inmate Harold Wayne Nichols refused to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection before his execution on December 11.
His attorney, Stephen Ferrell, said Nichol declined to vote on Nov. 10.
“Simply put, the Tennessee Department of Corrections did not provide our client with sufficient information about Tennessee’s lethal execution protocol for the state to make an informed decision about how to end his life,” the statement said. “It is our fervent request that the state pause Mr. Nichols’ execution until the courts finally have the opportunity to fully review the current lethal injection protocol and the fundamental problems with it are resolved. This process has already begun for many convicted inmates and must be completed before the state can conduct further experiments.”
Under Tennessee state law, when an inmate refuses to choose a method of execution, it defaults to lethal injection. Nichols chose the electric chair in 2020, before the state halted executions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inmates whose crimes were committed before 1999 are given the choice between the electric chair and lethal injection.
Nichols, 64, was sentenced to death for the 1988 rape and murder of 21-year-old Karen Pulley in Chattanooga. Nichols pleaded guilty to the charges in 1990. He pleaded guilty to two other charges of rape and burglary and was convicted at trial on two other separate charges of rape and burglary.
His attorneys said at the time of sentencing that life without the possibility of parole was not an option in Tennessee.
More: Harold Nichols sued over lethal injection recordings amid EKG issues in Tennessee
Nichols filed a lawsuit last month challenging lethal injection because he said the Tennessee Department of Corrections was withholding key information about drugs used in executions.
The statement also stated that Nichols’ attorneys submitted a clemency petition to Governor Bill Lee on Nov. 11, “requesting that Nichols’ death sentence be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.”
“The governor is a man of faith who speaks movingly about the power of redemption,” said Justyna Scalpone, another of Nichols’ attorneys. “Ann Pulley, the victim’s mother, offered Wayne clemency and challenged him to earn it. Since then, he has been, by all accounts, a model inmate serving in positions of trust in his unit. Today, Wayne is a man of deep Christian faith, a role model and mentor to his fellow inmates.”
Many jurors who sentenced Nichols to death, two prosecutors involved in the case, many corrections officers and prison attorneys support commuting Nichols’ sentence.
“Wayne took responsibility for his actions early on, expressed deep remorse and admitted to his crimes,” Scalpone said. “We urge the governor to consider the tragedy of Wayne’s early life, his sincere and consistent remorse for his crimes, and his exemplary life in prison since his conviction. We urge Governor Lee to show mercy.”
Tennessee resumed executions in May after a five-year break. Following the outbreak, the state planned to execute Oscar Franklin Smith in 2022 but canceled the process less than two hours before it was to begin after authorities discovered the drug’s expiration date had not been checked. Governor Bill Lee halts executions to create oversight and legislation new lethal injection protocol.
The new protocol uses a single drug, pentobarbital, to kill prisoners, rather than the three-drug cocktail it previously used.
If the execution goes ahead as planned, Nichols will be the third inmate executed this year. Smith in May And Byron Black in August.
This article first appeared in the Nashville Tennessean: An inmate on death row in Tennessee will die by lethal injection in December
