Willie James Pye was executed last night (Picture: AP)
The first man to be executed in the US state of Georgia for four years has been pronounced dead – and his last meal was pretty hefty.
Willie James Pye was sentenced to death in 1993 for the murder, kidnap, armed robbery, rape and burglary of Alicia Lynn Yarborough.
He was put to death by lethal injection, and was pronounced dead at 11.03pm local time on Wednesday evening.
The Georgia Department of Corrections said Pye accepted a final prayer but ‘did not record a final statement’.
However he did chow down on a large last meal: two chicken sandwiches, two cheeseburgers, french fries, two bags of plain potato chips and two lemon-lime sodas.
On Tuesday, Pye’s lawyers made a last-ditch attempt to stay his execution, saying he shouldn’t be put to death because he is intellectually disabled and feels remorse for his victim’s family, the Independent reports.
Willie Pye and his sister Sandra Usher pictured in prison in 2001 (Picture: Federal Defender Program Inc.)
Cathy Harmon-Christian from ‘Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty’ protested Pye’s execution (Picture: REUTERS)
They say their client has an IQ of 68, and had been ‘effectively abandoned’ by his previous lawyers during his trial, meaning there was ‘no one and nothing to stand between my client and death’.
His low IQ, and other factors including the poverty, neglect, and violence he faced since birth, were not heard at trial – and allegedly some of his original jurors no longer wanted him to be put to death, Pye’s lawyer said.
But the board rejected the request, confirming Pye’s execution would go ahead as planned.
According to court records, Pye alongside Chester Adams and Anthony Freeman robbed, kidnapped, raped and murdered Miss Yarborough 30 years ago.
At the time she was living with her boyfriend – the father of her child – but she had previously been in a relationship with Pye, and he believed her baby was his.
After finding out Miss Yarborough’s boyfriend had received money from a lawsuit, he and his accomplices planned to rob him, but when they arrived at the couple’s home they found her alone.
Pye held her at gunpoint and kidnapped her. He, Adams and Freeman took her to a motel where they took it in turns to rape her, before they put her in a car.
They drove down a dirt path and forced Miss Yarborough to lie face down on the road before Pye shot her three times.
Pye was tied to the crime using DNA found on his victim’s body.
Adams pleaded guilty to his involvement in 1997 and was handed five consecutive life sentences. He’s still behind bars.
Freeman, who was 15 at the time, confessed to the crimes, took a plea deal, and was the main witness at Pye’s trial. He is now out on parole.
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