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Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection for killing college student in 1988
Harold Wayne Nichols spent 35 years on death row after confessing to raping 12 women and murdering Karen Pulley, before his lethal injection execution by Tennessee authorities.
- On Dec. 11, 2025, Harold Wayne Nichols, a Tennessee death row inmate, was executed by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution and pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m. after administration of pentobarbital.
- Nichols attacked Karen Pulley in Chattanooga's Brainerd community on Sept. 30, 1988; Pulley, a 20-year-old Chattanooga State student, died the next day and Nichols confessed, leading to a 1990 death sentence.
- Legal teams sought court orders for drug inventories and expiration dates in an October 2024 lawsuit, while Nichols challenged Tennessee's single-drug pentobarbital protocol but courts dismissed his case.
- Pulley's family said they supported the execution, describing the day as painful yet hopeful, while Nichols' attorneys claimed his transformation meant the execution 'sent the message that no one can rise beyond the crimes they committed.'
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay, Gov. Bill Lee did not intervene, and Nichols was the third inmate executed under Tennessee's new lethal injection protocol this year.
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With the death of 64-year-old Harold Nichols, the number of executions in the United States has reached the highest level in 15 years.
·Vienna, Austria
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Harold Nichols was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of 20-year-old student Karen Pooley in 1988.
Inmate Who Declined to Choose Method Executed
Tennessee executed Harold Wayne Nichols by lethal injection Thursday for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, a 20-year-old student at Chattanooga State University. Nichols, 64, had confessed to killing Pulley as well as raping several other women in the Chattanooga area, the AP reports. Although he expressed remorse...
·Miami, United States
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Harold Wayne Nichols dies in third Tennessee execution of ...
·Nashville, United States
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Total News Sources24
Leaning Left4Leaning Right6Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution41% Center
Bias Distribution
- 41% of the sources are Center
41% Center
L 24%
C 41%
R 35%
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