ATLANTA - The State Board of Pardons and Paroles will conduct a clemency meeting March 19, 2024, for condemned inmate Willie James Pye. 

An execution order from the Spalding County Superior court opened a time period of March 20, 2024, to March 27, 2024, for the Georgia Department of Corrections to carry out the execution of Pye. The execution is scheduled for March 20 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

At the March 19th meeting, the Georgia Parole Board members will hear testimony for or against clemency for Pye. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Following the meeting, the Board may commute the death sentence to a life sentence with or without the possibility of parole, issue a stay or deny clemency. In Georgia, only the Parole Board may grant executive clemency to a condemned inmate. 

Pye was convicted of malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, burglary, and rape in the 1993 killing of Alicia Yarbrough. He was given the death penalty for malice murder following a June 1996 trial.

The Georgia Parole Board meeting will be held at the Board’s central office located at 2 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, S.E., Atlanta, Georgia, 30334. It is anticipated that the meeting will be closed as authorized by O.C.G.A. § 50-14-3 (a)(2). No public comment will be taken at this meeting and no other business will be conducted.

A photo opportunity will be afforded to the media prior to the meeting being closed. After being cleared by building security on the plaza level, media should check in with credentials by 8:45 a.m. in the Board’s public reception office, West Tower 4th Floor, Room 430. Media may wait at a designated location until the conclusion of the meeting to interview those appearing before the Board, if they so choose to grant interviews.

For more information contact [email protected] or 404-657-9450.