A condemned inmate in Tennessee has declined to choose his method of execution, prompting the state to move ahead with its default option. Harold Wayne Nichols, who is scheduled for execution on December 11, 2025, opted not to decide between electrocution and lethal injection — two methods available to him under state law. As a result, the state’s department of corrections will proceed with a lethal injection protocol.
Sub-heading 1: Eligible Options and State Law
Under Tennessee law, inmates sentenced to death for crimes committed before January 1999 are permitted to select electrocution (the electric chair) instead of the state’s preferred method of lethal injection. Nichols, originally condemned for a 1988 rape and murder, falls within that category. While the state continues to allow the electric chair as an option, Tennessee has deployed it only a handful of times in recent years.
Sub-heading 2: Background of the Case and Execution Protocol Changes
Nichols was sentenced to death in 1990 after his conviction for the sexual assault and murder of a 21-year-old student.He had previously selected the electric chair when he was scheduled for execution in 2020, but the process was delayed due to the pandemic. A subsequent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol revealed that drugs used in executions had not been properly tested, prompting the state to shift in December 2022 to a single-drug pentobarbital method.By declining to pick an execution method this time, Nichols triggers the default use of lethal injection.
Sub-heading 3: What This Means Going Forward
With no selected method, Nichols has a deadline of two weeks to make a choice, after which the default method (lethal injection) will apply. The case also brings renewed focus on execution-method debates — particularly the rare use of electrocution and lingering legal challenges to the updated lethal-injection protocol. Several death-row inmates in Tennessee are pursuing litigation over the new process.
