ATLANTA– A Georgia man should not be executed because he has an intellectual disability and feels remorse for killing his ex-girlfriend 30 years ago, his lawyers wrote as they asked for leniency for him.
Willie James Pye, 59, will be put to death Wednesday using the sedative pentobarbital, in what would be the state’s first execution in more than four years. Pye was convicted of murder and other crimes in the November 1993 killing of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough.
A clemency hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. In Georgia, these hearings are held in secret and the results are announced afterwards.
“Had the defense not abandoned its role, jurors would have learned that Mr. Pye is mentally retarded and has an IQ of 68,” Pye’s public defenders wrote in their leniency request.
“They would also have learned that the challenges he faced from birth – deep poverty, neglect, constant violence and chaos in his family home – precluded the possibility of healthy development,” they wrote. “This is exactly the kind of evidence that supports a life. verdict.”
Pye’s attorneys also cited serious problems in Spalding County’s justice system in the 1990s and said Pye had a positive impact on those around him while in prison.
Pye had an on-and-off romantic relationship with Yarbrough. At the time she was killed, Yarbrough was living with another man. Pye, Chester Adams and a 15-year-old boy planned to rob the man and bought a gun before going to a party in Griffin, prosecutors say.
The trio left the party around midnight and went to the house where Yarbrough lived, where they found her alone with her baby. They forced their way into the home, stole a ring and necklace from Yarbrough and took her with them when they left, leaving the baby alone, prosecutors say.
They drove to a motel, where they took turns raping Yarbrough, then left the motel with her in the teen’s car, prosecutors said. They turned onto a dirt road and Pye ordered Yarbrough out of the car, made her lie face down and shot her three times, according to court documents.
Yarbrough’s body was found a few hours after her death. Pye, Adams and the teen were quickly arrested. Pye and Adams denied knowing anything about Yarbrough’s death, but the teen confessed and implicated the other two.
The teen reached a plea deal with prosecutors and was the key witness at Pye’s trial. A jury found Pye guilty of murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and burglary in June 1996, and sentenced him to death.
Pye’s attorneys have argued in court filings that other statements made by the teen are inconsistent with what he said to Pye during the trial. These statements, as well as those Pye made during the trial, indicate that Yarbrough voluntarily left the house and went to the motel to exchange sex for drugs, attorneys said in court filings.
Pye’s attorneys also wrote in the lawsuits that Pye had grown up in extreme poverty in a home without indoor plumbing or access to adequate food, shoes or clothing. His childhood was marked by neglect and abuse by family members who abused alcohol, his attorneys wrote.
His lawyers also argued that Pye suffered from brain damage, possibly caused by fetal alcohol syndrome, which affected his ability to plan and control his impulses. They also claim that he has an intellectual disability and is therefore ineligible for execution, citing the findings of several experts who have evaluated him.
Pye’s attorneys have long argued that he should be resentenced because his trial attorney failed to adequately prepare for the penalty phase of his trial. A three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Pye’s lawyers in April 2021. But the full federal appeals court overturned that ruling in October 2022.
Adams, now 55, pleaded guilty in April 1997 to malice murder, kidnapping with bodily harm, armed robbery, rape and aggravated sodomy. He received five consecutive life sentences and remains behind bars.
The last execution in Georgia took place in January 2020.
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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback contributed.