A man who murdered his ex-girlfriend 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed in March, Georgia’s first execution in more than four years.
A judge on Thursday signed an execution order for Willie James Pye, who was convicted of murder and other charges in the November 1993 slaying of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. The execution is scheduled for March 20 at 7 p.m., after a judge set an execution time frame between noon that day and noon March 27.
Pai, 59, will be Georgia’s first execution since January 2020. Georgia’s executions are carried out by injection with the sedative pentobarbital at the state prison in Jackson.
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An agreement between lawyers and the state effectively halts executions for a certain group of death row inmates in Georgia because of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Pai’s lawyers cited the agreement Wednesday when they asked the court to bar the state from seeking a warrant of execution against him for the time being.
According to court filings, Pai and Yarbrough dated on and off, but at the time of her death, Yarbrough was living with another man. Prosecutors said Pye, Chester Adams and a 15-year-old boy planned to rob the man and purchased a handgun before heading to Griffin’s party.
The three left the party around midnight and went to the house where Yarbrough was living, where they found Yarbrough alone with the baby. They forced their way into her home, stole her ring and necklace from Yarbrough, and took her with them when they left, leaving her baby alone, prosecutors said.
This Georgia Department of Corrections photo shows Willie James Pye. (Georgia Department of Corrections, Associated Press)
They drove to a motel, where they took turns raping Yarbrough, then put her in the girl’s car and left the motel, prosecutors said. They turned onto a dirt road and Pye ordered Yarbrough out of the car, made him lie face down and shot him three times, according to court filings.
Ms. Yarbrough’s body was discovered on November 17, 1993, hours after she was murdered. Pye, Adams, and the teenager were quickly arrested. Pye and Adams denied knowing anything about Yarbrough’s death, but the teenager confessed and claimed two others were also involved.
The teenager reached a plea deal with prosecutors and became a key witness in Pai’s trial. In June 1996, a jury found Pai guilty of malicious murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, rape, and robbery, and sentenced him to death.
Pai’s lawyers have long argued in court that he should be held accountable because his trial lawyers did not adequately prepare him for the sentencing phase of the trial. Pai’s lawyers argued that the trial failed to adequately investigate Pai’s “life, background, physical and mental health” to prevent the evidence from being presented to the jury at sentencing.
They presented evidence that his childhood was marked by poverty, abuse and neglect. They also claimed he had frontal lobe brain damage, possibly caused by fetal alcohol syndrome, which impaired his ability to plan and control impulses.
A federal judge rejected those claims, but a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reached an agreement with Pai’s lawyers in April 2021. However, the case was later reconsidered by a federal appeals court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision was overturned in October 2022. .
Adams, now 55, pleaded guilty in April 1997 to charges of malicious murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, rape, and aggravated sodomy. He was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences and remains in prison.
As Georgia courts enter a state of judicial emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic, lawyers for a group of death row inmates work with state Attorney General Chris Carr’s office to temporarily halt executions and establish conditions under which they can resume. concluded an agreement to do so.
The agreement, with one specified exception, is subject to three conditions: the expiration of the state’s COVID-19 judicial emergency, the resumption of regular visitation in state prisons, and the availability of COVID-19 resources. Executions will not resume until the requirements are met. Vaccines are “for all citizens.”
The agreement applied to death row inmates whose requests for petition rehearing were denied by the 11th Circuit while a judicial emergency was in place. The agreement is currently the subject of litigation in Fulton County Superior Court, and the execution of the inmates in question has been put on hold for the time being.
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Mr. Pai’s lawyers said in a court filing Wednesday that even though the 11th Circuit ultimately denied Mr. Pai’s request for reconsideration in March 2023, Mr. Pai is not a third-party beneficiary of that agreement. He asked the court to allow him to participate in the pending litigation. , which will protect him from execution for the time being.
Lawyers for the state responded in Thursday’s filing that Pai is not covered by the agreement and should not be allowed to participate in the pending litigation.
The judge who signed the execution order also wrote that Mr. Pai was not included in the agreement and therefore the agreement did not prevent his execution.
