Thirty years after he abducted and brutally murdered his girlfriend, a man is executed in Georgia

The first person to be executed in Georgia since January 2020 is 59-year-old Willie James Pye.

According to a release from the Georgia Department of Corrections, Pye was convicted in November 1993 of killing his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. He was given a fatal injection on Wednesday at 11:03 p.m. In more than four years, this is Georgia’s first execution.

Pye’s attorneys made a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, pointing to procedural flaws and arguing that the state had not fulfilled the requirements to resume executions after COVID-19. However, the appeal was turned down.

His legal team said that he is cognitively impaired and that his planning and impulse control are affected by brain damage that may have resulted from fetal alcohol syndrome. People with these kinds of infirmities are not put to death. On Tuesday, however, the Georgia Parole Board rejected these allegations and declined to grant him freedom.

According to Lori Benoit, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, Pye had visits from six family members, a pastor, and a lawyer. For his last dinner, he asked for cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches.

A person was seen demonstrating against the death penalty in front of Jackson Prison. Carrying a placard bearing the words “Don’t Kill Willie Pye” and his picture, the demonstrator attracted the attention of oncoming cars.

Pye, who was previously linked to Yarbrough—who was living with someone else—is accused of conspiring with Chester Adams and a 15-year-old accomplice to organize a heist. After getting a rifle, they went to a neighboring party before making their way beyond midnight to Yarbrough’s house. When they discovered she was alone with her child, they broke in, took her jewelry, and had her leave the child behind.

Prosecutors claim that after escorting Yarbrough to a hotel, the gang assaulted her. Then they got in a vehicle and drove off. They eventually came to a halt on a dusty road, and Pye told Yarbrough to get out of the car and lay down facedown. Pye then reportedly shot her three times, according to court records.

Not long after Yarbrough passed away, on November 17, 1993, her corpse was discovered. Pye, Adams, and the adolescent were apprehended by the police without delay. Pye and Adams claimed not to know Yarbrough’s fate, but the adolescent acknowledged doing the murder and said they were all complicit.

After coming to a deal with the prosecution, the adolescent testified as a crucial witness in Pye’s trial. A jury found Pye guilty of murder, abduction, rape, armed robbery, and burglary in June 1996. He was thus given the death penalty.