NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Governor Bill Lee announced Friday he is giving temporary reprieve until December 31, 2020 to a Hamilton County man who was set to be executed next month.
Lee said he is delaying Harold Wayne Nichols’ execution, which was originally set for August 4, due to challenges and disruptions caused by COVID-19.
Nichols was sentenced to death in the 1988 rape and murder of 21-year-old Karen Pulley.
Nichols’ is not the first Tennessee death row inmate to have his execution delayed. In June, the Tennessee Supreme Court delayed Byron Black’s October execution to April 8, 2021. Black was convicted of killing his girlfriend and her daughters in 1988.
Tennessee also delayed the June execution of Oscar Smith, who was wanted in the 1989 murders of his estranged wife and her two sons.