Latest news with #WillieJamesPye
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
One Year After Controversial Execution, Georgia Looks to Reform Death Penalty Laws
Georgia made national headlines last year when the state executed Willie James Pye, a man who multiple expert witnesses had deemed intellectually disabled. Pye and two other people had been convicted of the 1996 murder, kidnapping, rape, and robbery of his ex-girlfriend, Alicia Yarbrough, in Spaulding County. Anti-death penalty advocates worked diligently to get Pye off death row, and they almost succeeded. After his attorney's competence was called into question, Pye's death sentence was reversed, only to be reinstated by an appellate court. He was executed by lethal injection on March 20, 2024. One year after Pye's execution, Georgia advocates are hopeful that a bill making its way through the State Legislature can reform the way intellectual disability is handled in death penalty cases. 'It's almost a little bittersweet knowing that had the standard been [different], that might well have prevented the execution of Willie Pye,' said Nathan Potek, Pye's attorney through the Federal Defender Program. House Bill 123 would align Georgia with the other 26 states that practice capital punishment. Under current state law, a defendant must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are intellectually disabled; the decision is made by a jury at the same time as those jurors decide the defendant's guilt or innocence. The new bill, which is currently awaiting approval by the senate judiciary committee, would require that intellectual disability be determined in a pretrial hearing and set a lower threshold for proving it. Black people are overrepresented on death rows nationally; in Georgia, Black residents make up one-third of the state's overall population but 44% of all people currently on death row. Ten people on death row have been convicted in metro Atlanta, four in Fulton County, four in Cobb County, and one in Gwinnett County. Seven of them were Black. 'There's a lot of historical racial terror implications built within and baked into the death penalty system in America,' said Joia Thornton, founder and national director of the Faith Leaders of Color Coalition, a nonprofit that organizes with Black and Indigenous clergy who are working to end the American death penalty system. Though race is a component to any criminal justice reform conversation, advocates for this bill, like Wesley Myrick, executive director at the Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center, chose not to make it central to their work. 'This bill does not seek to resolve any conversations related to the death penalty and race — it is simply not topical,' Myrick said. 'Rather, this bill is about our shared obligation to love and protect our neighbors with intellectual disabilities to ensure they are treated compassionately through our adjudication processes and in a manner that honors their humanity above all.' While the bill is limited in its scope — Georgia has tried 90 death penalty cases since 2015 but only 10 have had intellectual disability claims — advocates believe it would be an important step in the right direction. 'If we as a society have determined that it's wrong to execute folks with intellectual disability, then we should make sure that we aren't doing that,' Potek said. In 1988, Georgia became the first state to ban the execution of intellectually disabled people. The law was passed more than a decade before the Supreme Court made its 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, finding that it was a violation of the 'cruel and unusual punishment' clause in the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to execute a person with an intellectual disability. Though Georgia's legislation was ahead of its time, critics say the law is ineffective. Since it was adopted, no one has been declared intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution, according to the Southern Center for Human Rights. Critics of the law have been working to change it for years. Myrick said their relative success this year has been due to the interest of the speaker of the house and the support of the majority party, which he described as dedicated to ensuring that persons with disabilities are protected. The post One Year After Controversial Execution, Georgia Looks to Reform Death Penalty Laws appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgia lawmakers consider easing one of the nation's toughest death penalty laws
ATLANTA (AP) — Last year, Georgia executed Willie James Pye, whose IQ was low enough to indicate that he was intellectually disabled, according to his lawyers. That rattled Glennville Republican state Rep. Bill Werkheiser, who months earlier had introduced legislation to make it easier for someone facing the death penalty to prove they are intellectually disabled and thus ineligible to receive the death penalty. His bill didn't get a vote in committee, but a similar effort this year has garnered more legislative support — it passed the House unanimously Tuesday and is now pending in the Senate. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Georgia in 1988 became the first state to outlaw the death penalty for intellectually disabled people. The U.S. Supreme Court followed in 2002, ruling that executing intellectually disabled people violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. But the high court left it up to states to determine the threshold at which a person is considered intellectually disabled. Georgia's requirement that people prove that disability beyond a reasonable doubt makes it an outlier, the only state with such a high burden of proof. Lawmakers have previously discussed changing that threshold. This year's bill also gives defendants a chance to present evidence of intellectual disability at a pretrial hearing that would be mandatory if prosecutors agree. If found guilty at trial, defendants could then present evidence of intellectual disability in a separate process in front of the same jury. If they are found to have an intellectual disability, they would get a life sentence if convicted. 'I believe it is incumbent upon the state to protect those who cannot protect themselves,' Werkheiser said. Pye was convicted in the 1993 abduction, rape and shooting death of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. His lawyers argued he was intellectually disabled and brain damaged. In another case that drew national attention, Warren Lee Hill was executed in Georgia in 2015 for killing a fellow detainee despite his lawyers repeatedly arguing that he had an intellectual disability. In a 2002 order, a judge said that if Georgia used a lower standard than reasonable doubt, Hill would have likely been found intellectually disabled. When the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for Rodney Young in 2021, the justices found he had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was intellectually disabled. But then-Presiding Justice David Nahmias wrote that he would 'embrace' efforts by lawmakers to change the standard. Prosecutors have testified in committee hearings that they're not opposed to changing the reasonable doubt standard, which some had previously lobbied against. But they oppose changes to the trial process and the addition of a pretrial hearing. 'The proposed bill cherry-picks from several different states,' T. Wright Barksdale III, district attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in central Georgia, said in an interview. The bill's supporters argue that if jurors have heard the details of a gruesome crime, they may then have a hard time evaluating evidence of the defendant's intellectual disability without bias. Most states give defendants the chance to prove their intellectual disability before the trial and have separate processes for determining a defendant's guilt and intellectual disability. 'Changing only the standard of proof is insufficient for ensuring that Georgia does not continue to execute people with valid claims of intellectual disability,' said Mazie Lynn Guertin, executive director of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Barksdale III denies that Georgia executes people with intellectual disabilities. He argued that the proposed law would make the process too complicated and would keep the death penalty from being imposed altogether. 'As this law is constructed, and based on my experience of trying capital cases, it would for all intents and purposes cripple us to a point that we would never have a real fair shot at ever obtaining a death penalty for anyone,' Barksdale said. If lawmakers want to do away with the death penalty, they should just do that, Barksdale said. But lawmakers have said that's not their intention. During two committee hearings on this bill, lawmakers from both parties seemed unconvinced that the procedural changes would make the process too complicated. Death penalty cases already take a long time, with many motions and hearings ahead of the trial, they pointed out. 'We have the death penalty in this state. I'm not going to debate it," Rep. Esther Panitch, a Sandy Springs Democrat and criminal defense attorney, said Tuesday. "But if we're going to mete out the ultimate punishment, it should only be for the worst of the worst, and those we have spent the time to make sure understand their culpability.' ___ Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
The Independent
04-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Georgia lawmakers consider easing one of the nation's toughest death penalty laws
Last year, Georgia executed Willie James Pye, whose IQ was low enough to indicate that he was intellectually disabled, according to his lawyers. That rattled Glennville Republican state Rep. Bill Werkheiser, who months earlier had introduced legislation to make it easier for someone facing the death penalty to prove they are intellectually disabled and thus ineligible to receive the death penalty. His bill didn't get a vote in committee, but a similar effort this year has garnered more legislative support — it passed the House unanimously Tuesday and is now pending in the Senate. Georgia in 1988 became the first state to outlaw the death penalty for intellectually disabled people. The U.S. Supreme Court followed in 2002, ruling that executing intellectually disabled people violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. But the high court left it up to states to determine the threshold at which a person is considered intellectually disabled. Georgia's requirement that people prove that disability beyond a reasonable doubt makes it an outlier, the only state with such a high burden of proof. Lawmakers have previously discussed changing that threshold. This year's bill also gives defendants a chance to present evidence of intellectual disability at a pretrial hearing that would be mandatory if prosecutors agree. If found guilty at trial, defendants could then present evidence of intellectual disability in a separate process in front of the same jury. If they are found to have an intellectual disability, they would get a life sentence if convicted. 'I believe it is incumbent upon the state to protect those who cannot protect themselves,' Werkheiser said. Pye was convicted in the 1993 abduction, rape and shooting death of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. His lawyers argued he was intellectually disabled and brain damaged. In another case that drew national attention, Warren Lee Hill was executed in Georgia in 2015 for killing a fellow detainee despite his lawyers repeatedly arguing that he had an intellectual disability. In a 2002 order, a judge said that if Georgia used a lower standard than reasonable doubt, Hill would have likely been found intellectually disabled. When the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for Rodney Young in 2021, the justices found he had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was intellectually disabled. But then-Presiding Justice David Nahmias wrote that he would 'embrace' efforts by lawmakers to change the standard. Prosecutors have testified in committee hearings that they're not opposed to changing the reasonable doubt standard, which some had previously lobbied against. But they oppose changes to the trial process and the addition of a pretrial hearing. 'The proposed bill cherry-picks from several different states,' T. Wright Barksdale III, district attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in central Georgia, said in an interview. The bill's supporters argue that if jurors have heard the details of a gruesome crime, they may then have a hard time evaluating evidence of the defendant's intellectual disability without bias. Most states give defendants the chance to prove their intellectual disability before the trial and have separate processes for determining a defendant's guilt and intellectual disability. 'Changing only the standard of proof is insufficient for ensuring that Georgia does not continue to execute people with valid claims of intellectual disability,' said Mazie Lynn Guertin, executive director of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Barksdale III denies that Georgia executes people with intellectual disabilities. He argued that the proposed law would make the process too complicated and would keep the death penalty from being imposed altogether. 'As this law is constructed, and based on my experience of trying capital cases, it would for all intents and purposes cripple us to a point that we would never have a real fair shot at ever obtaining a death penalty for anyone,' Barksdale said. If lawmakers want to do away with the death penalty, they should just do that, Barksdale said. But lawmakers have said that's not their intention. During two committee hearings on this bill, lawmakers from both parties seemed unconvinced that the procedural changes would make the process too complicated. Death penalty cases already take a long time, with many motions and hearings ahead of the trial, they pointed out. 'We have the death penalty in this state. I'm not going to debate it," Rep. Esther Panitch, a Sandy Springs Democrat and criminal defense attorney, said Tuesday. "But if we're going to mete out the ultimate punishment, it should only be for the worst of the worst, and those we have spent the time to make sure understand their culpability.' ___ Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
Associated Press
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Georgia lawmakers consider easing one of the nation's toughest death penalty laws
ATLANTA (AP) — Last year, Georgia executed Willie James Pye, whose IQ was low enough to indicate that he was intellectually disabled, according to his lawyers. That rattled Glennville Republican state Rep. Bill Werkheiser, who months earlier had introduced legislation to make it easier for someone facing the death penalty to prove they are intellectually disabled and thus ineligible to receive the death penalty. His bill didn't get a vote in committee, but a similar effort this year has garnered more legislative support — it passed the House unanimously Tuesday and is now pending in the Senate. Georgia in 1988 became the first state to outlaw the death penalty for intellectually disabled people. The U.S. Supreme Court followed in 2002, ruling that executing intellectually disabled people violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. But the high court left it up to states to determine the threshold at which a person is considered intellectually disabled. Georgia's requirement that people prove that disability beyond a reasonable doubt makes it an outlier, the only state with such a high burden of proof. Lawmakers have previously discussed changing that threshold. This year's bill also gives defendants a chance to present evidence of intellectual disability at a pretrial hearing that would be mandatory if prosecutors agree. If found guilty at trial, defendants could then present evidence of intellectual disability in a separate process in front of the same jury. If they are found to have an intellectual disability, they would get a life sentence if convicted. 'I believe it is incumbent upon the state to protect those who cannot protect themselves,' Werkheiser said. Pye was convicted in the 1993 abduction, rape and shooting death of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough. His lawyers argued he was intellectually disabled and brain damaged. In another case that drew national attention, Warren Lee Hill was executed in Georgia in 2015 for killing a fellow detainee despite his lawyers repeatedly arguing that he had an intellectual disability. In a 2002 order, a judge said that if Georgia used a lower standard than reasonable doubt, Hill would have likely been found intellectually disabled. When the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for Rodney Young in 2021, the justices found he had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was intellectually disabled. But then-Presiding Justice David Nahmias wrote that he would 'embrace' efforts by lawmakers to change the standard. Prosecutors have testified in committee hearings that they're not opposed to changing the reasonable doubt standard, which some had previously lobbied against. But they oppose changes to the trial process and the addition of a pretrial hearing. 'The proposed bill cherry-picks from several different states,' T. Wright Barksdale III, district attorney for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in central Georgia, said in an interview. The bill's supporters argue that if jurors have heard the details of a gruesome crime, they may then have a hard time evaluating evidence of the defendant's intellectual disability without bias. Most states give defendants the chance to prove their intellectual disability before the trial and have separate processes for determining a defendant's guilt and intellectual disability. 'Changing only the standard of proof is insufficient for ensuring that Georgia does not continue to execute people with valid claims of intellectual disability,' said Mazie Lynn Guertin, executive director of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Barksdale III denies that Georgia executes people with intellectual disabilities. He argued that the proposed law would make the process too complicated and would keep the death penalty from being imposed altogether. 'As this law is constructed, and based on my experience of trying capital cases, it would for all intents and purposes cripple us to a point that we would never have a real fair shot at ever obtaining a death penalty for anyone,' Barksdale said. If lawmakers want to do away with the death penalty, they should just do that, Barksdale said. But lawmakers have said that's not their intention. During two committee hearings on this bill, lawmakers from both parties seemed unconvinced that the procedural changes would make the process too complicated. Death penalty cases already take a long time, with many motions and hearings ahead of the trial, they pointed out. 'We have the death penalty in this state. I'm not going to debate it,' Rep. Esther Panitch, a Sandy Springs Democrat and criminal defense attorney, said Tuesday. 'But if we're going to mete out the ultimate punishment, it should only be for the worst of the worst, and those we have spent the time to make sure understand their culpability.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State representatives to vote on banning executions of intellectually disabled Georgians
The 2025 Georgia Legislative Session has had a variety of bills, some aimed at lighter fare like making corn bread the official state bread, and others on the more serious side, such as making sure all Georgia workers earn at least the minimum wage. Among Tuesday's House Floor votes, state lawmakers will take steps to approve, or reject, a ban on executing those with intellectual disabilities that are serving sentences on death row. As of Dec. 31, 2024, there were 34 inmates on Georgia's death row. All but one are men. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The most recent execution in Georgia was in March 2024, when the state put Willie James Pye, 59, to death. His execution was the first since 2020. Channel 2 Action News previously reported that Pye's public defenders said he was intellectually disabled and had an IQ of just 68. His defenders argued that Pye also grew up poor and in a violent, chaotic family environment and petitioned the state for clemency. Now, House Bill 123 is making its way through the legislative process. If it passes its floor vote in the Georgia House of Representatives, it would move to the Senate for approval or rejection. TRENDING STORIES: Car crashes into the bottom of Buckhead high-rise building Be weather aware: Risk for strong to severe storms tonight, early Wednesday New numbers about Georgia's economy paints different picture than the rest of the U.S. If passed, HB 123 would make it so that for defendants facing the death penalty for a capital offense, the accused may file a pretrial notice about claiming intellectual disability. This would prompt a pretrial hearing about the defendant's intellectual ability or disability and can be conducted upon a motion of the defendant, at the court's decision or at the joint consent of both the defendant and the prosecution. The court would determine if the accused Georgian has an intellectual disability after the hearing, with the judge serving as the finder of fact, according to the bill's text. However, the defense would have the burden of producing evidence and to persuade the court that they are intellectually disabled. If the pretrial hearing does not find them to have an intellectual disability, the legislation says they could attempt a second petition later on during the legal process. If a Georgian accused of capital offenses and facing the death penalty is found intellectually disabled, the court would prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. Juries would also be instructed by the court to keep the defendants' intellectual disability statuses in consideration when deciding guilt during a trial. Should HB 123 pass, any death penalty sought after July 1 would include instructions for juries involving intellectual disabilities of defendants and their potential convictions. If a jury does not find the defendant has an intellectual disability, capital sentencing can go ahead unchanged. In the event that a defendant successfully proves intellectual disability but accepts a plea deal, the death penalty would be off the table as a sentence, putting the accused instead into a life sentence. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
