OUTCOME USA: JURORS SUPPORT CLEMENCY AS EXECUTION SET

Dear Governor,

I urge you to commute Harold Wayne Nichols’ death sentence. I do not seek in any way to downplay the serious nature of the crime for which he is facing execution.

Wayne Nichols pleaded guilty, and at his sentencing expressed remorse and recognized the pain he had caused. The mother of his victim, motivated by her religious faith, asked to meet with him immediately after the sentencing. Their interaction seems to have been a crucial spur in his efforts toward rehabilitation since then. His remorse and willingness to accept personal responsibility has been recognized by prison experts and others.

Multiple jurors who sentenced Wayne Nichols to death have since stated that they support clemency. They recalled wanting to vote for life without parole but as state law did not allow that option at the time, they ended up voting for death based on conjecture about the likelihood of execution. Because Tennessee had not carried out an execution since 1960, they thought it unlikely that Wayne Nichols would be either and so voted for the death penalty in the belief that this would keep him in prison for the rest of his life. Such speculative decision-making in the jury room is surely cause for clemency now.

The state Supreme Court’s Chief Justice considered that the prosecutor’s argument for death as the only way of ensuring Wayne Nichols would not reoffend was unconstitutional. Today two former Hamilton County prosecutors involved in the case support clemency and point to his model conduct over more than three decades. Under international law, personal reformation and social rehabilitation are the “essential aim” of the treatment of individuals held in the prison system.

I appeal to you to halt Wayne Nichols’ execution and to commute his death sentence.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]