JACKSON: A Georgia man convicted of the killing of his former girlfriend three a long time in the past was put to dying Wednesday night within the state’s first execution in additional than 4 years.
Willie James Pye, 59, obtained an injection of the sedative pentobarbital and was pronounced lifeless at 11:03 p.m. on the state jail in Jackson. He was sentenced to die for his conviction within the November 1993 abduction, rape and capturing dying of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough.
Pye was requested by the warden whether or not he needed to say any remaining phrases, and he indicated no.When requested if he needed a prayer stated for him, he indicated that he would. A member of the clergy then stated a quick prayer, asking God to assist Pye expertise some grace and mercy.
Pye was principally nonetheless because the medication started to stream. He started exhaling fast bursts of air a couple of half-dozen instances, inflicting his cheeks to broaden and his lips to quiver every time. Then, he was nonetheless. A number of minutes later, the warden walked into the dying chamber and introduced the time of dying.
Pye’s legal professionals filed late appeals urging the U.S. Supreme Courtroom to step in, however the justices unanimously rejected to cease the execution. The protection crew argued the state hadn’t met essential situations for resuming executions after the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated arguments that Pye was ineligible for execution due to an mental incapacity. State responses argued the claims had been beforehand settled by the courts and had been with out benefit. The final execution in Georgia was carried out in January 2020 earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic gained power.
Pye had been in an on-and-off romantic relationship with Yarbrough, however on the time she was killed, she was residing with one other man. Pye, Chester Adams and a 15-year-old had deliberate to rob that man and acquired a handgun earlier than heading to a celebration in a close-by city, prosecutors have stated.
The trio left the occasion round midnight and went to the home the place Yarbrough lived, discovering her alone along with her child. They pressured their method into the home, stole a hoop and necklace from Yarbrough, and compelled her to go along with them, leaving the newborn alone, prosecutors stated.
The group drove to a motel, the place they raped Yarbrough after which left the motel along with her within the automotive, prosecutors stated. They turned onto a mud street and Pye ordered Yarbrough out of the automotive, made her lie face down and shot her 3 times, in response to court docket filings.
Yarbrough’s physique was discovered on Nov. 17, 1993, just a few hours after she was killed. Pye, Adams and {the teenager} had been rapidly arrested. Pye and Adams denied understanding something about Yarbrough’s dying, however the teenager confessed and implicated the opposite two.
{The teenager} reached a plea settlement with prosecutors and was the primary witness at Pye’s trial. A jury in June 1996 discovered Pye responsible of homicide, kidnapping, armed theft, rape and housebreaking, and sentenced him to dying.
Pye’s legal professionals had argued in court docket filings that prosecutors relied closely on {the teenager}’s testimony however that he later gave inconsistent statements. Such statements, in addition to Pye’s testimony throughout trial, point out that Yarbrough left the house willingly and went to the motel to commerce intercourse for medication, the legal professionals stated in court docket filings.
Attorneys representing Pye additionally wrote in earlier court docket filings that their shopper was raised in excessive poverty in a house with out indoor plumbing or sufficient meals or clothes. His childhood was characterised by neglect and abuse by members of the family who had been usually drunk, his legal professionals wrote.
His legal professionals additionally argued that Pye suffered from frontal lobe mind injury, doubtlessly attributable to fetal alcohol syndrome, which harmed his planning skill and impulse management.
Pye’s legal professionals had lengthy argued in courts that he needs to be resentenced as a result of his trial lawyer didn’t adequately put together for the sentencing section of his trial. His authorized crew argued that the unique trial legal professional didn’t sufficiently examine his “life, background, bodily and psychiatric well being” to current mitigating proof to the jury throughout sentencing.
A federal choose rejected these claims, however a three-judge panel of the eleventh U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals agreed with Pye’s legal professionals in April 2021. Then the case was reheard by the total federal appeals court docket, which overturned the panel ruling in October 2022.
Pye’s co-defendant Adams, now 55, pleaded responsible in April 1997 to expenses of malice homicide, kidnapping with bodily harm, armed theft, rape and aggravated sodomy. He acquired 5 consecutive life jail sentences and stays behind bars.
There have been 75 males and one lady executed in Georgia for the reason that U.S. Supreme Courtroom reinstated the dying penalty in 1976, in response to the Georgia Division of Corrections. Pye was the 54th inmate put to dying by deadly injection. There are presently 35 males and one lady underneath dying sentence in Georgia.
Willie James Pye, 59, obtained an injection of the sedative pentobarbital and was pronounced lifeless at 11:03 p.m. on the state jail in Jackson. He was sentenced to die for his conviction within the November 1993 abduction, rape and capturing dying of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough.
Pye was requested by the warden whether or not he needed to say any remaining phrases, and he indicated no.When requested if he needed a prayer stated for him, he indicated that he would. A member of the clergy then stated a quick prayer, asking God to assist Pye expertise some grace and mercy.
Pye was principally nonetheless because the medication started to stream. He started exhaling fast bursts of air a couple of half-dozen instances, inflicting his cheeks to broaden and his lips to quiver every time. Then, he was nonetheless. A number of minutes later, the warden walked into the dying chamber and introduced the time of dying.
Pye’s legal professionals filed late appeals urging the U.S. Supreme Courtroom to step in, however the justices unanimously rejected to cease the execution. The protection crew argued the state hadn’t met essential situations for resuming executions after the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated arguments that Pye was ineligible for execution due to an mental incapacity. State responses argued the claims had been beforehand settled by the courts and had been with out benefit. The final execution in Georgia was carried out in January 2020 earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic gained power.
Pye had been in an on-and-off romantic relationship with Yarbrough, however on the time she was killed, she was residing with one other man. Pye, Chester Adams and a 15-year-old had deliberate to rob that man and acquired a handgun earlier than heading to a celebration in a close-by city, prosecutors have stated.
The trio left the occasion round midnight and went to the home the place Yarbrough lived, discovering her alone along with her child. They pressured their method into the home, stole a hoop and necklace from Yarbrough, and compelled her to go along with them, leaving the newborn alone, prosecutors stated.
The group drove to a motel, the place they raped Yarbrough after which left the motel along with her within the automotive, prosecutors stated. They turned onto a mud street and Pye ordered Yarbrough out of the automotive, made her lie face down and shot her 3 times, in response to court docket filings.
Yarbrough’s physique was discovered on Nov. 17, 1993, just a few hours after she was killed. Pye, Adams and {the teenager} had been rapidly arrested. Pye and Adams denied understanding something about Yarbrough’s dying, however the teenager confessed and implicated the opposite two.
{The teenager} reached a plea settlement with prosecutors and was the primary witness at Pye’s trial. A jury in June 1996 discovered Pye responsible of homicide, kidnapping, armed theft, rape and housebreaking, and sentenced him to dying.
Pye’s legal professionals had argued in court docket filings that prosecutors relied closely on {the teenager}’s testimony however that he later gave inconsistent statements. Such statements, in addition to Pye’s testimony throughout trial, point out that Yarbrough left the house willingly and went to the motel to commerce intercourse for medication, the legal professionals stated in court docket filings.
Attorneys representing Pye additionally wrote in earlier court docket filings that their shopper was raised in excessive poverty in a house with out indoor plumbing or sufficient meals or clothes. His childhood was characterised by neglect and abuse by members of the family who had been usually drunk, his legal professionals wrote.
His legal professionals additionally argued that Pye suffered from frontal lobe mind injury, doubtlessly attributable to fetal alcohol syndrome, which harmed his planning skill and impulse management.
Pye’s legal professionals had lengthy argued in courts that he needs to be resentenced as a result of his trial lawyer didn’t adequately put together for the sentencing section of his trial. His authorized crew argued that the unique trial legal professional didn’t sufficiently examine his “life, background, bodily and psychiatric well being” to current mitigating proof to the jury throughout sentencing.
A federal choose rejected these claims, however a three-judge panel of the eleventh U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals agreed with Pye’s legal professionals in April 2021. Then the case was reheard by the total federal appeals court docket, which overturned the panel ruling in October 2022.
Pye’s co-defendant Adams, now 55, pleaded responsible in April 1997 to expenses of malice homicide, kidnapping with bodily harm, armed theft, rape and aggravated sodomy. He acquired 5 consecutive life jail sentences and stays behind bars.
There have been 75 males and one lady executed in Georgia for the reason that U.S. Supreme Courtroom reinstated the dying penalty in 1976, in response to the Georgia Division of Corrections. Pye was the 54th inmate put to dying by deadly injection. There are presently 35 males and one lady underneath dying sentence in Georgia.
