NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee death row inmate Harold Wayne Nichols on Monday declined to choose between the electric chair and lethal injection for his Dec. 11 execution, meaning the state will default to lethal injection.

Nichols was sentenced to death in 1990 after he was convicted of raping and murdering Karen Pulley, a 21-year-old student at Chattanooga State University, two years earlier. He has two weeks to change his mind about choosing which method will be used, Tennessee Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter said in an email.

He was scheduled to be executed in 2020, and had chosen the electric chair, but was then given a reprieve due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tennessee inmates who were convicted of crimes before January 1999 are permitted to choose electrocu

See Full Page