The state of Georgia executed its first inmate in more than four years Wednesday night, putting to death a man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend nearly three decades ago.
Willie James Pye, 59, made no final statement but accepted a prayer from a clergyman before the state injected pentobarbital into his veins. The clergy member asked God to help Pye experience grace and mercy in his death, the Associated Press said.
As the sedative flowed through his body, Pye exhaled rapidly several times, his cheeks expanding and his lips quivering, before he was still. Minutes later, the warden announced the time of death.
Family members, a clergy member, and an attorney visited the condemned man on his last day as his legal team made final attempts to gain clemency, WAGA reported. But Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas denied his application for a stay of execution, and the Georgia Parole Board rejected arguments that his defense was inadequate in 1996 and that he was intellectually disabled.
Pye, whose co-defendants were not sentenced to death, requested cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches for a final meal.
Outside the state prison in Jackson, protesters voiced their disapproval of state-sponsored executions.
Pye was convicted in the 1993 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, a woman he had been in an on-and-off again relationship. the AP reported. At the time of her death, Yarbrough was living with another man. Pye, Chester Adams, and a 15-year-old decided to rob that man and bought a gun to facilitate the robbery.
The three went to a party then went to house where Yarbrough lived and found her alone with her baby. They forced entry into the house, stole a ring and a necklace, and then forced her out the door with them, leaving the baby home alone.
At a nearby motel, they raped Yarbrough and then took her onto a dirt road where Pye ordered her to lie on the ground face down and shot her.
Yarbrough’s body was found on November 17, 1993, and the suspects were quickly arrested. Pye and Adams initially denied knowing anything about the murder, but the teenager confessed and reached a plea deal that made him the key witness in Pye’s trial. Pyw was convicted of murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, and burglary.
An appeals panel agreed with his attorneys’ arguments for resentencing based on inadequate preparation by his original attorney, but the full 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the panel ruling in October 2022.
Adams, now 55, pleaded guilty in 1997 to malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, rape, and aggravated sodomy. He was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences.
Yarbrough’s family spoke with WANF, with her daughter, Tawanna Bell, saying that the execution gave her a sense of “closure for the first time in [her] life, since the murder.”
A cousin, Gernetta Starks, told the outlet that the family “wanted the world to know that she was somebody.”
“You know the whole time, the whole 30 years, the focus has been on Pye and it hasn’t been on Alicia and it’s not fair,” she said. “Her children got lost in all of this.” Alicia’s cousin Gernetta Starks said.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Willie James Pye/Georgia Department of Corrections]
