NASHVILLE, Tennessee. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday he won't intervene to stop the execution. Harold Wayne Nichols.
Nichols, 64, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old Chattanooga State University student.
Nichols confessed to killing Pooley, as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted that he would have continued his violent behavior if he had not been arrested. In 1990, he was sentenced to death.
Nichols' lawyers sought to have his sentence commuted to life in prison, citing the fact that he accepted responsibility for his crimes and pleaded guilty. His clemency petition stated that “he will be the first person executed for a crime to which he pleaded guilty since Tennessee reintroduced the death penalty in 1978.”
In an emailed statement late Tuesday, Lee said, “After careful consideration of Harold Wayne Nichols' request for clemency and after careful review of the case, I support the Tennessee verdict and do not plan to intervene.”
IN recent interviewPooley's sister, Lisette Monroe, said waiting for Nichols to be executed was “37 years of hell.” She described her sister as “gentle, sweet and innocent” and said she hoped that after her execution she would be able to focus on happy memories of Puli rather than killing her.
Nichols' lawyers released a statement saying they were “deeply saddened and seriously disappointed” by Lee's decision to deny clemency.
“Wayne has taken responsibility for his actions for decades, worked to change his life, and was an outstanding man loved and trusted by corrections officers, religious leaders and many in his community,” they wrote.
Nichols broke into Pulley's home, raped her, and hit her in the head with a 2-by-4 board. Pulley suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and died the next day.
Nichols was arrested several months after Pulley's murder for unrelated rapes and burglaries in the Chattanooga area. He admitted to raping several victims in Chattanooga two months before Pulley was killed. He pleaded guilty to raping two victims, but was tried by jury for the other two and convicted.
