Bio

Joseph Bennard Nichols was born on September 8, 1961, in Galveston County, Texas. His parents divorced when he was seven years old, but both maintained a good relationship with him. Nichols faced pressures during his early life, especially when he married and had a child at a young age, dropping out of school at about age seventeen to support his family.

He was convicted of theft in 1979. In a later incident in 1980, he pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to nine years of felony probation. While on probation, Nichols committed multiple armed robberies and was considered to be involved in criminal activities prior to his other serious offenses.

By the age of 19, Nichols had gained a reputation for violent crime and was known to associate with a group that engaged in robbery. He did not complete his education and had an average academic record despite being recognized as an excellent athlete.

Murder Story

On October 13, 1980, Joseph Bennard Nichols, alongside Willie Ray Williams, committed a robbery at Joseph's Delicatessen in Houston, Texas. Both men entered the store, armed with firearms, and confronted Claude Shaffer Jr., the deli employee, who was 70 years old. When Shaffer saw the weapons, he either bent down or squatted behind the counter. At this moment, Nichols and Williams opened fire.

After initially shooting at Shaffer, both men fled toward the entrance of the deli. Nichols exited the deli first. Williams stopped at the door, fired another shot at Shaffer, then went behind the counter to grab the cash box. They both escaped the scene, joined by their accomplices, Charlotte Parker and Evelyn Harvey, who had been waiting in a car outside.

In the aftermath, Nichols casually mentioned to Parker and Harvey that he had shot Shaffer and seemed to indicate that he believed he hit him in the chest. A few days later, the police arrested all four individuals involved in the robbery. Shaffer succumbed to his injuries from a single gunshot wound.

At the time of the murder, Nichols was already on probation for a prior theft conviction and had been involved in a series of robberies in the months leading up to this incident. Williams was also sentenced to death for his role in the crime and was executed in 1995.

Following a lengthy legal process, Nichols was eventually executed by lethal injection in Texas on March 7, 2007. His last words were directed at a corrections officer, filled with obscenities, before he was pronounced dead shortly afterward.