"Georgia Executes Willie James Pye for 1993 Spalding County Murder After Clemency Denied"

Georgia executed Willie James Pye for the 1993 rape and murder of his former girlfriend, making him the 54th prisoner killed by lethal injection in the state. Pye, who had been on death row for nearly three decades, declined to make a final statement before his execution. His lawyers had argued that he was intellectually disabled, but the U.S. Supreme Court rejected their appeals. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles also denied his plea for clemency, despite support from three jurors who convicted him and questions about the quality of his legal representation.