Chamblee54

The State of Georgia executed Willie James Pye Wednesday night. He was convicted of the 1993 murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. Here is how the state describes the incident.
“Pye had been in a sporadic romantic relationship with the victim, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, but, at the time of her murder, Ms. Yarbrough was living with another man, Charles Puckett. Pye and two companions, Chester Adams and Anthony Freeman, planned to rob Puckett because Pye had heard that Puckett had just collected money from the settlement of a lawsuit. Pye was also angry because Puckett had signed the birth certificate of a child whom Pye claimed as his own.”
“On November 16, 1993, the three men drove to Griffin in Adams’ car and, in a street transaction, Pye bought a large, distinctive .22 pistol. They then went to a party where a witness observed Pye in possession of the large .22. Just before midnight, the three left the party and drove toward Puckett’s house. As they were leaving, a witness heard Pye say, “it’s time, let’s do it.” All of the men put on the ski masks which Pye had brought with him, and Pye and Adams also put on gloves.”
“They approached Puckett’s house on foot and observed that only Ms. Yarbrough and her baby were home. Pye tried to open a window and Ms. Yarbrough saw him and screamed. Pye ran around to the front door, kicked it in, and held Ms. Yarbrough at gunpoint. After determining that there was no money in the house, they took a ring and a necklace from Ms. Yarbrough and abducted her, leaving the infant in the house. The men drove to a nearby motel where Pye rented a room using an alias. In the motel room, the three men took turns raping Ms. Yarbrough at gunpoint. Pye was angry with Ms. Yarbrough and said, “You let Puckett sign my baby’s birth certificate.”
“After attempting to eliminate their fingerprints from the motel room, the three men and Ms. Yarbrough left in Adams’ car. Pye whispered in Adams’ ear and Adams turned off onto a dirt road. Pye then ordered Ms. Yarbrough out of the car, made her lie face down, and shot her three times, killing her. As they were driving away, Pye tossed the gloves, masks, and the large .22 from the car. The police later recovered these items and found the victim’s body only a few hours after she was killed. A hair found on one of the masks was consistent with the victim’s hair, and a ballistics expert determined that there was a 90 percent probability that a bullet found in the victim’s body had been fired by the .22. Semen was found in the victim’s body and DNA taken from the semen matched Pye’s DNA. When Pye talked to the police later that day, he stated that he had not seen the victim in at least two weeks. However, Freeman confessed and later testified for the State.”
FindLaw suggests another narrative. “The deputy who first discovered the victim’s body testified that she recognized the victim. Pye asked the deputy how she knew the victim, but the State objected that Pye was attempting to introduce the victim’s irrelevant cocaine use. The trial court twice ruled that Pye could not introduce evidence of the victim’s cocaine habit until he had shown it to be relevant. When the trial court made these rulings, there had been no evidence that the victim’s use of drugs played any part in her death. Later, however, Pye testified that he rented the motel room to sell drugs, that Adams and Freeman showed up with the victim, and that the victim willingly traded sex for crack cocaine and left with Adams and Freeman. Pye contends that the trial court erroneously refused to allow him to corroborate his subsequent testimony by presenting evidence of the victim’s cocaine habit and of her willingness to trade sex for cocaine.”
The clemency application has more details. (Defense Attorney Johnny B.) “Mostiler failed to marshal key evidence in the guilt phase, too. The testimony of Mr. Pye’s juvenile codefendant is the only evidence supporting some of the most aggravated aspects of the tragic crime: Alicia Yarbrough’s abduction and rape. But Mr. Mostiler failed to present key evidence undermining that testimony. Alicia Yarbrough’s neighbor and close friend reported that on the evening of her death, Ms. Yarbrough used her phone to call a motel and asked to be picked up by the occupants of the motel room. … This was consistent with Ms. Yarbrough’s usual practice of waiting until her new boyfriend, Charles Puckett, left home, then leaving to spend time with Mr. Pye in the motel room from which he sold drugs. Jurors did not hear this testimony. This evidence—together with the autopsy report showing that the victim had cocaine in her system at the time of her death—would have supported Mr. Pye’s testimony that the victim came to his motel room to use drugs and have consensual sex.”
The clemency application makes several more points. Mr. Pye was intellectually disabled, with an IQ measured at 68. A possible factor here is alcohol use by his mother in pregnancy, and throughout Mr. Pye’s childhood. The clemency application has a detailed report on the horrific conditions Mr. Pye grew up in, starting on page 14.
There were other problems with his counsel at trial. “Mr. Pye was represented by the contract public defender for Spalding County, Johnny B. Mostiler … notorious … as the archetype of the “meet ‘em, greet ‘em, plead ‘em” public defender. He obtained his role as the public defender through a contract with the county. Under the contract, he was paid a lump sum—$345,00 in 1996, the year of Mr. Pye’s trial—and in turn was responsible for providing all indigent defense services for the entire county. Mr. Mostiler subcontracted out the misdemeanor and juvenile cases but retained all felony cases, and handled those with the assistance of just one associate attorney and one investigator.”
On page 26 of the clemency application, there is a discussion of Mr. Mostiler’s racial attitudes. There are hearsay accounts of him using the six letter word. Johnny Baxter Mostiler died April 1, 2000.
For his last meal, “Pye requested a last meal of two chicken sandwiches, two cheeseburgers, french fries, two bags of plain potato chips and two lemon-lime sodas.” Mr. Pye died at 11:03 pm, March 20, 2024. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress