The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘I’m so at peace’: Pye thanked family, prison before execution
Convicted killer recorded statement hours before death.
Willie James Pye slept well on death row.
Condemned by a Spalding County jury more than 30 years ago, Pye said he felt at ease as the end drew near. In a statement recorded hours before his death, he thanked his family, prison guards and the warden of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison.
“I’m just so thankful and I’m so uplifted,” Pye said in a calm, even tone. “I’m so at peace.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution requested the audio and, as is the newspaper’s longstanding practice, sent a reporter to witness the execution.
His death sentence was the first carried out in Georgia in more than four years; the deadly pandemic paused executions for a time.
Pye declined to say anything in the moments before receiving a deadly injection of pentobarbital just after 11 p.m. March 20. His statement was recorded at about 5:20 p.m.
“I did want to be thankful to the entire staff at this prison, Jackson prison,” he said. “Everybody treated me very well, I mean very well.”
Pye was convicted of killing Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, with whom he had a sporadic relationship, in Spalding County in November 1993.
“I’m not going to go into my case or nothing like that because I’ve already been convicted,” he said in the recording. “They already decided what they want to do and what they are not going to do.”
A jury convicted Pye on June 6, 1996, and recommended a death sentence the following day. The Georgia Pardons and Parole Board denied clemency the day before the execution. Attorneys for Pye made a last-minute effort to spare his life, but the U.S. Supreme Court denied Pye’s final appeal shortly before 10 p.m., clearing the way for his execution.
Inside the death chamber, Pye accepted a prayer. The clergy member present asked
God to help Pye experience grace and mercy.
His death warrant was then read aloud by the warden. Pye looked up at the ceiling briefly before closing his eyes for the last time.
“Just to make a long story short, my time has been just at ease and I’m so at ease and at peace, all because of the staff here,” Pye said at the end of his recorded statement. “Wonderful warden and he made everything easy for me.”