Harold NicholsA Tennessee judge says a convicted serial rapist and murderer from Chattanooga will remain on death row, a month after attorneys suggested a law change would allow Harold Wayne Nichols to be taken off it.
During a hearing in January, Judge Don Ash, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., said he had "legitimate concerns" about whether it was appropriate to let Nichols, 57, serve out his life sentences instead of keeping him on death row for possible execution.
One of Nichols' victims, Karen Pulley, is seen in this photo taken when she was 21 years old. And in an opinion filed Wednesday in Hamilton County Criminal Court, Ash rejected the agreement altogether, saying none of Nichols' constitutional rights were violated when a judge incorrectly applied an enhancement statute in 1990. An appeals court later ruled that was "harmless error," Ash wrote.
Since he was convicted in 1990 for the first-degree felony murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols has filed numerous appeals. Under last month's proposed agreement, Nichols would have avoided death but would continue serving a 60-year punishment.
Nichols is also serving 15 years for aggravated rape in 1990 and was convicted of several other rapes, court records show.
Family and friends of Nichols' victims cheered Ash's decision, which first became available Friday.
It brought temporary assurance that Nichols won't leave prison any time soon, a possibility some victims prepared for when they first heard he could be released.
"The first thing out of my kid's mouth was, 'Well, is he going to come after us?'" said Jeff Monroe, whose wife, Elizabeth, was sisters with Pulley. They live more than 2,000 miles away from Chattanooga.
"That was just this last month," Monroe said. "And that was painful to hear."
Nichols could appeal Ash's ruling. His post-conviction defenders could not be reached for comment Friday.
In a 73-page brief in 2016, defenders said a judge told jurors in 1990 that Nichols was previously convicted of rape. But that instruction wasn't done correctly, and Nichols went to death row because of it, they argued. Nichols was entitled to relief, they said, because a 2015 opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court changed those rules.
Though Chattanooga prosecutors conceded that point in January, Ash said the argument was "simply incorrect."
Ash also rejected another claim that Nichols' defense attorney in 1990 should have objected when prosecutors argued Nichols was too dangerous to be released on parole.
Tennessee hasn't put someone to death since 2009, according to news accounts. But last month, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery asked the state Supreme Court to schedule eight executions before June 1.
Nichols is not included in that list. But one of the men is Leroy Hall, of Chattanooga, who was convicted in 1992 of murder and aggravated arson.
Between 1997 and 2016, there were 62 defendants convicted of first-degree murder in Hamilton County, with 16 being sentenced to death, Nichols' defenders said. According to their motion, though, 13 of those sentences have been reversed.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.