Willie Pye is scheduled for execution in Georgia on March 20, 2024 for the 1992 murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough.

It's been more than three decades since Willie Pye was convicted in a rural Georgia county by a county prosecutor known for his racist attitudes. Nothing excuses this awful crime, however there remain questions about Willie Pye's intellectual capacity and whether racism had a role in his receiving a sentence of death by execution rather than incarceration for the rest of his life.

Click here to download the Clemency Application filed by Willie's lawyers last week, and here's one more thing you can do today: Send an email to GaParoleBoard@pap.ga.gov or call 404-656-4661 to urge a vote FOR clemency for Willie Pye.

We can hold Mr. Pye accountable for his actions and be safe from any further harm by him without executing him. We know this because it has been so long already, and in the vast majority of cases where the death penalty is a possible punishment, those convicted do not get a death sentence. Why did Willie Pye get a death sentence?  Could the color of his skin have anything to do with it?

The following information is from our allies at Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

There are three substantial aspects of the case that the jury did not hear during Mr Pye's trial:

1. The jury did not hear that Mr. Pye was raised in an environment of severe poverty, neglect and abuse. The jury heard no evidence of the violence and chaos in his family home, and they heard only a single fleeting reference to the fact that the family was poor.
2. The jury did not hear that Mr. Pye has been a helpful, nonviolent inmate who poses no danger to society. The district attorney who prosecuted Mr. Pye argued that the jury must sentence him to death in order to avoid the risk of Mr. Pye killing a prison guard while serving a life sentence. Johnny Mostiler failed to counter this argument with evidence that during Mr. Pye’s previous incarceration, he had been a respectful and helpful inmate who “was never menacing, never made any threatening remarks, and helped . . . keep the rest of the unit safe.” Had Mr. Mostiler called prison guards who knew Mr. Pye to testify at sentencing, the jury would have heard this critical evidence.
3. The jury was not presented with evidence that Willie was intellectually disabled and struggled to function in the world.

ADDITIONALLY: Mr Pye's trial took place nearly 28 years ago.  Here are some additional

• Willie Pye is an intellectually disabled man with a 68 IQ.
• The U.S. Constitution prohibits the execution of intellectually disabled persons as per Atkins v Virginia in 2002.
• As we saw with the bill GFADP supported this session - HB 1014: Georgia is the only state in the nation that requires proof of intellectual disability “beyond a reasonable doubt” to prevent execution. This is an unattainable standard. Had Willie Pye been tried in a state that uses “preponderance of evidence” as a standard of proof, he would have been ineligible for the death penalty.
• Spalding County, where Willie was tried and convicted in the mid-1990s, sought the death penalty at a far higher rate than counties of comparable sizes and disproportionately against Black defendants.
• Willie Pye’s trial attorney, Johnny Mostiler, was not only wildly ineffective, but had a long and well documented history of anti-Black racism. A qualified and experienced capital defense attorney would have assembled a team that included a mitigation specialist with the expertise required to conduct a thorough investigation into Willie’s deeply traumatic childhood, intellectual disability, and the pervasive racism in the community in which he was raised.

In continuing to schedule executions, Georgia makes itself an outlier in its use of the death penalty. Over the last 5-years, Georgia has been one of only a handful of states that has carried out executions, while the majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions. Increasingly, states are abolishing the practice altogether, including the southern state of Virginia, which repealed its death penalty law in 2021.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Kemp to do everything within his power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.

Petitions will be delivered on your behalf in the days leading up to the execution.