A clemency meeting for condemned inmate, 59-year-old Willie James Pye, will take place on March 19 ahead of his scheduled execution, said the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, giving him one more chance in the 11th hour to avoid the death penalty.
Spalding Superior Court set Pye's execution for March 20 at 7 pm at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The window for executions runs from March 20 to March 27, according to FOX5.
The Georgia Parole Board will hear testimony in favor of granting clemency to Pye, as well as opposing arguments.
Only the Parole Board holds jurisdiction to grant executive clemency to condemned inmates in the state of Georgia.
The meeting is due to begin at 9 am. Once the hearing concludes, the Board will then decide whether to commute Pye's death sentence to life imprisonment with or without the possibility of parole, issue a stay of execution, or reject clemency.
Pye's conviction comes from the 1993 murder of his former girlfriend, Alicia Yarbrough. He was found guilty of malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, burglary, and rape.
In June 1996, he was sentenced to death for malice murder following his trial.
Georgia last administered an execution in January 2020.
