Willie Pye: Georgia judge sets execution date for man who killed ex-girlfriend 3 decades ago

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

GEORGIA, UNITED STATES: A man who killed his ex-girlfriend thirty years ago will be executed in March. A judge signed the order for Willie James Pye's execution on Thursday, February 29. 

Pye was found guilty of murder and other crimes in the November 1993 killing of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. The execution is scheduled for March 20 at 7 pm, within a window between noon that day and noon on March 27.

Pye, aged 59, will be the first person executed in Georgia since January 2020. Executions in Georgia are carried out at the state prison in Jackson by injecting the sedative pentobarbital.

How did Willie James Pye kill Alicia Lynn Yarbrough?

Willie James Pye and Yarbrough were in a relationship that was sometimes on and off, according to the AP news. But when Yarbrough died, she was living with another man.

Pye, along with Chester Adams and a 15-year-old boy, had a plan to rob the man Yarbrough was living with. They bought a gun and then went to a party in Griffin. After leaving the party around midnight, they went to Yarbrough's house. 

When they got there, Yarbrough was alone with her baby. They forced their way inside, stole some jewelry from Yarbrough, and took her with them, leaving the baby behind. They drove onto a dirt road, where Pye made Yarbrough get out of the car and then he shot her three times.

Yarbrough's body was found on November 17, 1993, just a few hours after she was killed. Pye, Adams, and the teenager were arrested soon after.

Pye and Adams said they didn't know anything about Yarbrough's death, but the teenager confessed to the crime and blamed the other two. 

Teen became the main witness at Willie Pye's trial

The teenager made a deal with prosecutors and was the main witness at Pye's trial. In June 1996, a jury found Pye guilty of many crimes, including murder and sentenced him to death.

Pye's lawyers argued that he should be sentenced again because his trial lawyer didn't prepare well. They said his lawyer didn't investigate his life, health, or background enough to show the jury reasons why he shouldn't get the death penalty. 

They presented evidence that Pye had a difficult childhood with poverty, abuse, and neglect. They also said he had brain damage that made it hard for him to control his actions. A federal judge disagreed with these claims, but a panel of judges from a federal court agreed with Pye's lawyers in April 2021. Then the full court heard the case again and overturned the panel's decision in October 2022. 

Adams, now 55, pleaded guilty in April 1997 to many charges, including murder, and got five life sentences in prison. Lawyers for a group of death row prisoners in Georgia agreed with the state's attorney general to pause executions during the pandemic. 

This agreement said executions wouldn't start again until certain conditions were met. Pye's lawyer said he should be part of this agreement, even though the court rejected his request in March 2023.

The state's lawyers disagreed, saying Pye wasn't part of the agreement and should still face execution. The judge who signed the execution order also said Pye isn't part of the agreement, so his execution can go ahead.