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.

田纳西州死囚哈罗德·韦恩·尼科尔斯周一拒绝在电椅与注射死刑之间选择其12月11日的执行方式， 这意味着该州将默认采用注射死刑。



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.

尼科尔斯于1990年被判死刑， 罪名是两年前强奸并谋杀查塔努加州立大学21岁学生凯伦·普利。 田纳西州惩教署发言人多琳达·卡特在邮件中表示，他有两周时间重新选择行刑方式。

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 electrocution over the state's preferred method of lethal injection. Although several states still permit the use of the electric chair, it has only been used five times in the past decade, all in Tennessee.

他原定于2020年被执行死刑并选择了电椅，但因新冠疫情获得暂缓执行。 根据田纳西州规定，1999年1月前定罪的在押犯可选择电椅替代本州首选的注射死刑。 尽管多个州仍允许使用电椅，过去十年间仅执行过五次，且全部发生在田纳西。

At the time that Nichols selected electrocution, Tennessee's lethal injection protocol used three different drugs in series. It was a process that inmates' attorneys claimed was riddled with problems. Their concerns were shown to have merit in 2022, when Gov. Bill Lee paused executions, including a second execution date for Nichols. An independent review of the state's lethal injection process found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed in Tennessee since 2018 had been properly tested.

尼科尔斯当初选择电椅时，该州注射死刑方案采用三种药物连续注射。 囚犯律师们指称该流程存在诸多问题。 2022年比尔·李州长暂停死刑执行 （包括尼科尔斯的第二次执行日期）时，这些担忧被证实确有依据—— 独立审查显示，该州2018年以来对七名死囚执行注射死刑时，所有备选药物均未经过规范检测。

The Correction Department issued a new execution protocol in last December that utilizes the single drug pentobarbital. Attorneys for several death row inmates have sued over the new protocol, but a trial in that case is not scheduled until April.

惩教署于去年十二月颁布新注射死刑方案，改为单一药物戊巴比妥。 数名死囚的律师已就此新方案提起诉讼，但案件庭审须待次年四月方能进行。

Nichols confessed to raping and murdering Pulley as well as several other rapes in the Chattanooga area. Although he expressed remorse at trial, he admitted that he would have continued his violent behavior had he not been arrested.

尼科尔斯供认了强奸谋杀普利以及在查塔努加地区犯下的其他多起强奸案。 尽管他在庭审中表示悔意，但承认若非被捕将会继续实施暴力行为。

素材来源：iYuba

本文来自公众微信号：听歌学英语