{"id":1787,"date":"2025-12-27T10:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T10:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/duye.live\/?p=1787"},"modified":"2025-12-27T10:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T10:10:17","slug":"tennessee-execution-case-draws-attention-as-harold-wayne-nichols-final-statement-is-released-the-1988-murder-case-is-back-in-the-spotlight-heres-what-he-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/duye.live\/?p=1787","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Execution Case Draws Attention as Harold Wayne Nichols\u2019 Final Statement Is Released\u00a0\u00a0The 1988 Murder Case Is Back in the Spotlight \u2014 Here\u2019s What He Said"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

te used his last words to apologize to the people he harmed before he was executed nearly four decades after he raped and murdered a \u201cgentle, sweet, and innocent\u201d college student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harold Wayne Nichols declared he was \u201cready to go home\u201d as he was administered a lethal injection of pentobarbital at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo the people I\u2019ve harmed, I\u2019m sorry. To my family, know that I love you,\u201d Nichols said, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections<\/a>. \u201cI know where I\u2019m going. I\u2019m ready to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harold Wayne Nichols was put to death in Tennessee on Dec. 11, 2025, for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley. Tennessee Department of Correction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nichols, 64, sought a stay of execution on the eve of his death sentence, but the Tennessee Supreme Court <\/a>denied the request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was pronounced dead at 10:39 a.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convicted murderer had been on death row since 1990, two years after he was found guilty of killing 20-year-old Chattanooga State University student Karen Pulley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulley was at her Chattanooga home on Sept. 30, 1988, when Nichols broke in through a window and found her asleep in bed, the Tennessean<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He struck her in the head with a 2-by-4, raped her, and fled. Pulley died in the hospital the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen Pulley was raped and murdered by Nichols inside her Chattanooga home on Sept. 30, 1988. AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulley was Nichols\u2019 first known victim in a three-month crime spree spanning September 1988 to January 1989, during which he raped several other women and attempted to rape five more in the Chattanooga area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following his arrest, Nichols confessed to raping and murdering Pulley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At trial, he also admitted to raping seven other women and pleaded guilty to Pulley\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he expressed remorse, Nichols acknowledged he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nichols received the maximum punishment on all charges \u2014 more than 200 years for multiple rape and burglary counts and the death penalty for murder. A jury sentenced him to death in 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His execution was delayed twice, once in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic and again in 2022 after a procedural error led Gov. Bill Lee to suspend executions statewide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pulley\u2019s sister, Lisette Monroe, told the Associated Press days before Nichols\u2019 execution that her family endured \u201c37 years of hell\u201d waiting for his sentence to be served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, neither one of my parents were ever the same after Karen\u2019s murder,\u201d said Monroe, who was 17 at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The execution chamber of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn. AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Monroe, brother-in-law of murder victim Karen Pulley, speaks during a news conference outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Nichols on Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the pain of losing her sister will never completely go away, but hopes Nichols\u2019 execution will bring some measure of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can focus on the happy memories of Karen,\u201d Monroe said, describing her sister as \u201cgentle, sweet, and innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe love that we had for her, rather than every time we turn around reliving her murder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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te used his last words to apologize to the people he harmed before he was executed nearly four decades after he raped and murdered a \u201cgentle, sweet, and innocent\u201d college … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-1787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1787"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787\/revisions\/1791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duye.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}