Willie Pye: Georgia executes man for first time in more than four years

Jackson, Georgia - A Georgia man convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his former girlfriend was put to death Wednesday, in the state's first execution in more than four years.

Willie Pye was executed by lethal injection at a prison in Jackson, Georgia, on March 20, 2024.
Willie Pye was executed by lethal injection at a prison in Jackson, Georgia, on March 20, 2024.  © Georgia Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS

Willie Pye (59) was executed by lethal injection at 11:03 PM at a prison in Jackson, Georgia.

The US Supreme Court and State Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a last-minute bid for clemency by Pye.

In arguing for clemency, Pye's attorneys said he is intellectually disabled – with an IQ of 68 – and experienced a traumatic childhood of "profound poverty, neglect, constant violence and chaos in his family home."

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In addition, his lawyers said, Pye was poorly represented at trial by a "racist, overworked public defender," who has since died.

Pye was first sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1993 murder of his former girlfriend, Alice Yarbrough.

In 2021, an appeals court overturned Pye's death sentence on the grounds that he had received ineffective representation from his court-appointed lawyer.

The death sentence was later reinstated.

Two other executions in the United States so far this year

Cathy Harmon-Christian, the executive director of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, holds a photo of Willie Pye outside of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson.
Cathy Harmon-Christian, the executive director of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, holds a photo of Willie Pye outside of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson.  © REUTERS

Pye did not record a final statement, but did accept a final prayer, the Georgia Department of Corrections said in a statement.

There have been two other executions in the United States this year.

Kenneth Smith was put to death in Alabama in January in the first execution in the country to be carried out using nitrogen gas.

Ivan Cantu was executed in Texas by lethal injection in February despite steadfast innocence claims and trial irregularities.

Another execution by lethal injection had been scheduled to take place in Idaho last month but was halted after a medical team was unable to insert an intravenous line.

Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states, while the governors of six others – Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee – have put a hold on its use.

There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, all of them carried out by lethal injection.

Cover photo: Georgia Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS

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