On Wednesday evening, the state of Georgia executed death row inmate Willie James Pye, who was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1993 murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, the execution, Georgia's first in more than four years, was carried out by lethal injection at 11:03 pm at a prison in Jackson, about 50 miles south of Atlanta.
Georgia Executes Pye
In 1993, Pye was found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend. The department said that Pye accepted a final prayer and did not record a final statement.
His execution at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson took place hours after its scheduled time of 7 pm after an appeals court and the US Supreme Court rejected efforts to delay it.
On Tuesday, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his bid for clemency. It stated that the board in Georgia has the sole constitutional authority to grant clemency in a death penalty case.
Anti-death penalty groups had attempted to block Pye's execution because he was represented by a court-appointed lawyer who had been accused of using a racial slur in the case of another Black man, and Pye's medical records indicated he had signs of an intellectual disability that might have been brought on by fetal alcohol syndrome.
Pye's lawyers claimed in a request for clemency that had the defense counsel not abdicated his role, the jurors would have learned that Pye is intellectually disabled and has an IQ of 68.
Furthermore, Pye had already lost an appeal because, at the time his death warrant was signed, Georgia had not complied with key regulations meant to resume executions following the COVID pandemic. Among these demands was the restoration of regular visiting hours in state jails.
Following the state's decision to carry out Pye's execution, his lawyers claimed that they were unable to contact their client. The lawyers said that this is not normal or consistent with access to and availability of counsel that was previously possible, and it is unacceptable.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Pye's last meal request included two cheeseburgers, two chicken sandwiches, french fries, two bags of plain potato chips, and two lemon-lime sodas.
Georgia had its last execution in January 2020. Pye was one of thirty-six men and one woman in Georgia serving death sentences.
US States Resume Executions
Other states have resumed executions in recent years. However, it is becoming more difficult to administer a lethal injection as the drug manufacturers have restricted access to the supplies needed for the procedure.
Last month, Idaho tried to carry out its first execution in 12 years but had to abandon after prison service members were unable to create an IV line on the prisoner's arms or legs. No new date was announced right after, but his lawyers described it as a "badly botched execution attempt."
Alabama, which has had difficulties getting drugs for lethal injection, performed the state's first nitrogen gas execution in January. Several states, such as Louisiana, consider incorporating the controversial method into their protocols.
However, Georgia claims to have been able to obtain pentobarbital, a sedative, to administer lethal injections for executions.
