Death row inmate apologizes for rape and homicide of school pupil earlier than being executed in Tennessee
A Tennessee death row inmate apologized for killing and raping a college student almost four decades ago before he was executed on Thursday.
Harold Wayne Nichols, 64, died by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for the 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Karen Pulley.
Pulley was a student at Chattanooga State Community College at the time of her death.
Nichols’ execution marked Tennessee’s third use of the death penalty in 2025.
He was pronounced dead at 10.39am, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
‘To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,’ Nichols said in his last words.
He added: ‘To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.’
Harold Wayne Nichols, 64, died by lethal injection for the 1988 rape and murder of Karen Pulley, 20. He had been sentenced to death in 1990 after confessing to the killing
Pulley was a student at Chattanooga State Community College when she was killed by Nichols. Her sister said she had waited 37 years for justice
Nichols was sentenced to death in 1990 after he confessed to killing Pulley and raping other women around Chattanooga.
He expressed remorse for his crimes, but also admitted that his behavior would have continued.
Before he was executed, Nichols prayed and cried with his spiritual adviser JR Davis, according to the Associated Press.
‘Go in peace, my friend,’ Davis told Nichols. ‘I love you.’
As he died, Nichols was lying on a gurney with a sheet covering him up to his waist.
A long tube from another room was connected to an IV in the inside of his elbow.
Nichols took one very heavy breath, followed by many shorter, snort-like breaths before he passed.
Jeff Monroe, the husband of Pulley’s sister Lisette, spoke after the execution. Pulley’s family said Nichols hunted, stalked and attacked women ‘in the most sadistic ways’
Nichols’ sister, Deborah Perry, was present for his execution at the Riverbend prison.
She watched from a witness chamber and cried quietly, but did not say anything throughout the proceedings.
Pulley’s sister, Lisette Monroe, wanted to attend but was too overwhelmed to do so.
She issued a statement alongside her husband Jeff Monroe, which the Tennessee Department of Correction posted after Nichols’ execution.
‘We have waited for 37 years with the hope that justice would be delivered,’ the family’s letter read.
It continued: ‘Taking a life is serious and we take no pleasure in it. However, the victims – and there were many – were carefully stalked and attacked. The crimes – and there were many – were deliberate, violent, and horrific.’
The family said Nichols was a violent perpetrator who hunted his victims, stalked them and attacked ‘vulnerable women in the most sadistic ways.’
Nichols’ execution was Tennessee’s third use of the death penalty in 2025 (1999 photo of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution)
Court records said Nichols broke into Pulley’s house, hit her at least twice in the head with a two-by-four and raped her.
She was found lying in a pool of blood on the floor next to her bed by a roommate, and died the next day
Pulley was remembered as a ‘bubbly, happy, selfless’ former cheerleader who was attending Chattanooga State with the hopes of becoming a paralegal. She died while her sister was out of town.
A responding EMT said he had never seen anything like Pulley’s murder – even in the Vietnam War – her family claimed.
Her sister said no punishment could ‘ever atone for the loss of Karen’s life or the damage done to our family’ but that Nichols’ death was a ‘start.’
‘We are relieved that this nightmare is over and take comfort knowing he never again will be able to harm anyone else,’ Pulley’s family said.
They added: ‘Moving forward our family will concentrate on the happy memories of Karen and will never again be re-traumatized by this monster.’
In 2025 so far, 46 prisoners have been executed in the United States, according to the Death Penalty Information Center
Lisette Monroe called the wait for Nichols’ execution ’37 years of hell’ in an interview with the AP earlier this month.
Nichols had previously been scheduled for execution twice, although neither date was realized.
Tennessee planned to execute him in August 2020, but that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2022, Nichols was granted another temporary reprieve after all executions in Tennessee were paused.
That stay continued until a revised lethal injection protocol was announced on December 27, 2024, which determined that Tennessee would use the single drug pentobarbital to carry out its lethal injection protocol.
After that, his execution was scheduled for December 11 – and successfully carried out.
Nichols’ attorneys had failed to get his sentence commuted to life in prison, citing how he had admitted his crimes and pleaded guilty.
His attorney, Debbie Drew, said Nichols’ execution ‘sent the message that no one can rise beyond the crimes they committed decades earlier and that redemption deserves no mercy,’ per the AP.
So far in 2025, 46 prisoners have been executed in the US.
