NEWS (7/​17/​20) — Tennessee: Citing coro­n­avirus con­cerns, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has is a reprieve post­pon­ing the sched­uled August 4, 2020 exe­cu­tion of Harold Nichols. In a state­ment to the media, Lee said he grant­ed Nichols a ​“tem­po­rary reprieve from exe­cu­tion until December 31, 2020, due to the chal­lenges and dis­rup­tions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Nichols’ exe­cu­tion is the third halt­ed in Tennessee as a result of the pan­dem­ic. The Tennessee Supreme Court pre­vi­ous­ly stayed Oscar Smith’s exe­cu­tion, sched­uled for June 4, and Byron Black’s exe­cu­tion, which was sched­uled for October 8. The Tennessee Supreme Court may resched­ule Nichols’ exe­cu­tion after the reprieve expires. One addi­tion­al death-row pris­on­er is sched­uled to be put to death in Tennessee in 2020. Pervis Payne is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on December 3.

Sources

Adam Tamburin and Mariah Timms, Harold Nichols: Governor delays August exe­cu­tion over coro­n­avirus con­cerns, The Tennessean, July 17, 2000; Steven Hale, Governor Grants Reprieve for Harold Nichols, Nashville Scene, July 17, 2020.