Georgia executed its first prisoner in over four years on Wednesday, executing a man who was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend almost thirty years ago.
Before being injected with pentobarbital, 59-year-old Willie James Pye accepted a prayer from a clergyman, who asked for grace and mercy in his death. The Associated Press reported that Pye made no final statement..
As the sedative entered his body, Pye exhaled quickly multiple times, then became motionless. The warden announced his time of death a few minutes later.
On his final day, Pye was visited by family members, a clergy member, and a lawyer as his legal team tried to seek clemency, according to WAGA. However, his application for a stay of execution was denied by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and the Georgia Parole Board rejected arguments about his defense and intellectual capabilities from 1996.Pye, whose partners in the crime were not sentenced to death, requested cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches for his last meal.
Protesters outside the state prison in Jackson expressed their disapproval of state-sanctioned executions.
Pye was found guilty in the 1993 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, his on-and-off girlfriend.
At the time of her death, Yarbrough was living with another man. Pye, Chester Adams, and a 15-year-old planned to rob that man and armed themselves.
Following a party, they went to Yarbrough's house where they stole items from her and took her away, leaving her baby alone at home.
At a nearby motel, they raped Yarbrough and then shot her after they took her to a dirt road.
Yarbrough's body was discovered on November 17, 1993, and Pye and Adams were soon arrested. Pye was convicted of murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, and burglary.
His attorneys argued for resentencing due to inadequate preparation by his original lawyer, but the full 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the panel ruling in October 2022.
Adams, now 55, pleaded guilty in 1997 to several charges and received five consecutive life sentences.
Yarbrough's family spoke with WANF, with her daughter feeling a sense of closure since the execution.Another family member mentioned that they wanted people to remember Yarbrough as someone important.
A cousin expressed that the focus has been on Pye and not on Yarbrough for the past thirty years and that her children have been overlooked.
[Featured image: Willie James Pye/Georgia Department of Corrections]
Georgia carried out its first execution in over four years on Wednesday evening, executing a man found guilty of murdering his former girlfriend nearly 30 years ago. Willie James Pye, 59, did not make a final statement but received a prayer from a clergyman before the state administered pentobarbital into his bloodstream. The clergy member …