Entries tagged with “Harold Nichols”
Upcoming Executions
,Women
,Jan 27, 2026
Death-Sentenced Prisoner Christa Pike Files Religious Challenge to Tennessee’s Execution Protocol
For updates on the September 30, 2026 failed execution attempt of Christa Pike, please see our full story here. 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…
Victims' Families
,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 surrounding the state’s…
Victims' Families
,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 individuals, “access to…
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 to The Tennessean’s February…
Executions
Upcoming Executions
,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 Oscar Smith and June 9 for Harold Nichols. Black has presented evidence that he is ineligible…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Feb 26, 2020
Tennessee Sets Execution Dates for Two Men With Issues of Innocence, Intellectual Disability, and Competency
Tennessee has set two more execution dates for 2020, directed, advocates say, at men whose cases present unresolved issues of innocence, intellectual disability, and mental competency. On February 24, 2020, the Tennessee Supreme Court granted state prosecutors’ applications for execution dates for Byron Black (pictured, left) and Pervis Payne (pictured, right). The court scheduled Black’s execution for October 8 and Payne’s for December 3, making them the fourth and fifth executions scheduled…