Georgia man, convicted of killing ex-girlfriend, put to death in state's first execution in over 4 years

A 59-year-old man from the US state of Georgia, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend in 1993, was put to death on Wednesday (Mar 20) in the state's first execution in more than four years. The last execution happened in January 2020.

Willie James Pye received an injection of the sedative pentobarbital and was pronounced dead on Wednesday night at the state prison in Jackson, a report by the news agency Associated Press said.

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Pye was asked by the warden whether he wanted to say any final words, and he indicated no. On being asked if he wanted a prayer said for him, Pye indicated that he did. A member of the clergy then said a brief prayer, asking God to help the 59-year-old experience some grace and mercy, the report said.

The case

Pye had been in an on-and-off relationship with Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. He had been sentenced to die for his conviction in the November 1993 abduction, rape, and shooting death of Yarbrough.

At the time of her death, Yarbrough was living with another man. According to prosecutors, Pye, Chester Adams, and a 15-year-old planned to rob the woman's partner and bought a weapon before heading to a party nearby.

The trio left the party around midnight and went to the house where Yarbrough lived with her baby. They forced their way into the house and forced the woman to go with them, leaving the baby alone, the prosecutors said.

The trio drove Yarbrough to a motel where they raped her and then left the motel with her in the car. Citing court filings, the report said that Pye ordered his ex-girlfriend out of the car and shot her.

The woman's body was found on November 17, 1993, a few hours after she was killed. Pye and Adams denied knowing about her death but the teenager confessed and implicated the other two. The teenager became the main witness in Pye's trial.

In 1996, a jury found Pye guilty of murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, and burglary and sentenced him to death.

The arguments of Pye's lawyers

As the trial began, Pye's lawyers argued that prosecutors relied heavily on the teenager’s testimony but that he later gave inconsistent statements. In court filings, the lawyers said that such statements as well as Pye's testimony indicated that Yarbrough left the home willingly and went to the motel to trade sex for drugs.

The lawyers also said that their client was raised in extreme poverty, and suffered from frontal lobe brain damage, potentially caused by fetal alcohol syndrome, which harmed his planning ability and impulse control.

The report said that his lawyers filed late appeals urging the US Supreme Court to step in, but the justices unanimously rejected to stop the execution. They argued that Georgia had not met the necessary conditions for resuming executions after the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated arguments that Pye was ineligible for execution due to an intellectual disability.

However, state responses argued the claims had been previously settled by the courts and were without merit.

(With inputs from agencies)