Entries tagged with “Harold Nichols”

Upcoming Executions

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Women

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Jan 27, 2026

Death-Sentenced Prisoner Christa Pike Files Religious Challenge to Tennessee’s Execution Protocol

Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has filed a law­suit in the Davidson County Chancery Court chal­leng­ing the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col, assert­ing it vio­lates her con­sti­tu­tion­al rights and con­flicts with her reli­gious beliefs. The state’s new exe­cu­tion pro­to­col relies sole­ly on pen­to­bar­bi­tal to induce res­pi­ra­to­ry and car­diac arrest, rather than the for­mer three-drug cock­tail. Ms. Pike argues that Tennessee’s lim­i­ta­tion on clergy,…

Victims' Families

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Dec 11, 2025

Tennessee Co-Victim Says Capital Punishment is Not Restorative

“We don’t need more death. We need more care.” — Anna Lee, vic­tim fam­i­ly mem­ber — In a December 9, 2025, opin­ion arti­cle in The Tennessean, Anna Lee, a mur­der-vic­­tim fam­i­ly mem­ber whose beloved great-uncle’s killer, Nick Sutton, was exe­cut­ed six years ago explains how the death penal­ty has not brought her fam­i­ly heal­ing or jus­tice. In the piece, Ms. Lee com­pas­sion­ate­ly describes the long-term emo­tion­al and finan­cial toll the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment system imposes…

Dec 08, 2025

Tennessee Execution Set to Proceed Despite Mounting Concerns Over State’s Lethal Injection Protocol

Harold Nichols is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion on December 11, 2025, despite ques­tions from doc­tors and lawyers about whether Tennessee’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col caus­es unnec­es­sary pain and suf­fer­ing. Mr. Nichols was sen­tenced to death for the 1988 rape and mur­der of Karen Pooley, a Chattanooga State University stu­dent, and his case involves a broad­er legal bat­tle over the secre­cy of Tennessee’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. At the cen­ter of the controversy…

Victims' Families

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May 14, 2025

Murder Victims’ Family Members Ask Tennessee Governor Lee to Halt Scheduled Executions

On May 8, 2025, a group of fam­i­ly mem­bers who have lost loved ones to vio­lence in Tennessee deliv­ered a let­ter to Governor Bill Lee’s office request­ing that he halt the state’s upcom­ing sched­uled exe­cu­tions. In their let­ter, the group of 51​“vic­tims, sur­vivors, and fam­i­ly mem­bers of those impact­ed by vio­lent crime” argue the death penal­ty does not act as a heal­ing tool for vic­tims and takes away from state-fund­ed resources that could help with their heal­ing. For these…

Mar 25, 2025

Records Show Tennessee Officials Have Spent Nearly $600,000 of Taxpayer Funds for Lethal Injection Drugs Since 2017

According to records request­ed by *The Tennessean*, between 2017 and 2025 the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) spent near­ly $600,000 of tax­pay­er funds obtain­ing drugs for lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions. Specific infor­ma­tion about the drugs’ sources and ori­gins remains unknown because of the state’s secre­cy pro­vi­sions. During this time peri­od sev­en exe­cu­tions were car­ried out: five by elec­tro­cu­tion, two by lethal injec­tion. The TDOC ini­tial­ly refused to respond…

Executions

Upcoming Executions

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Mar 05, 2022

Tennessee Sets Three Execution Dates for Most-in-Nation 5 Pending Executions in 2022

The Tennessee Supreme Court has issued death war­rants set­ting exe­cu­tion dates for three pris­on­ers, bring­ing to five — the nation’s‑high — the num­ber of exe­cu­tions pend­ing in the state in 2022. On February 22, 2022, the court set exe­cu­tion dates of August 18 for Byron Black, October 6 for Gary Sutton, and December 8 for Donald Middlebrooks. The court had pre­vi­ous­ly set exe­cu­tion dates of April 21 for…