On Wednesday, at 11:03 p.m., Willie James Pye, aged 59, was executed for the murder of his former girlfriend, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough, a crime that occurred over three decades ago.

This execution signifies Georgia’s resumption of carrying out the death penalty after a pause lasting more than four years.

Pye received a final prayer but opted not to make a final statement. In November 1996, he was convicted of the 1993 murder and additional serious offenses related to Yarbrough’s shooting death, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

The execution, conducted via lethal injection using pentobarbital, occurred at the state prison in Jackson, approximately 40 miles south of Atlanta.

Pye’s execution is particularly noteworthy as he is the first individual to be executed in Georgia since January 2020.

Written by B.C. Begley