PHOTOS: The scene before Georgia's first scheduled execution in over 4 years

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PHOTOS: The scene before Georgia's first scheduled execution in over 4 years

Willie James Pye, 59, was convicted of killing his former girlfriend three decades ago and was scheduled to be put to death Wednesday evening at the state prison near Jackson, Georgia.

The first Georgia execution in more than four years took place at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison near Jackson on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Willie James Pye was executed at 11:03 p.m. Wednesday for the 1993 rape and murder of his former girlfriend in Spalding County. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Cathy Harmon-Christian, executive director of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, holds up a list of people killed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 at Georgia Diagnostic Prison near Jackson on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Members of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty wait outside the Georgia Diagnostic Prison near Jackson for updates about the execution of death row inmate Willie Pye on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Timmy Whitman (center), a friend of death row inmate Willie Pye, talks to members of Pye’s family on Wednesday evening, March 20, 2024, outside the Georgia Diagnostic Prison, where Pye was set to be executed. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Atlanta attorney Daniel Kolber holds a signs that reads “Don’t Kill Willie Pye” as he walks along the highway across from Georgia Diagnostic Prison, where Pye was set to be executed on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Friends of death row inmate Willie Pye walk to a van headed to the Georgia Diagnostic Prison near Jackson to witness his scheduled execution on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

The Rev. Misha Sanders from Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Sandy Springs says a prayer during a vigil for death row inmate Willie Pye at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison near Jackson on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Mary Catherine Johnson, a board member of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, speaks during a vigil for death row inmate Willie Pye at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

Attorney Daniel Kolber holds signs that read “Don’t Kill WIllie Pye” and “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a right” across from the Georgia Diagnostic Prison in Jackson, where Willie James Pye, 59, was scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. A large photo of Pye was also displayed among the signs. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

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The first Georgia execution in more than four years took place at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison near Jackson on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Willie James Pye was executed at 11:03 p.m. Wednesday for the 1993 rape and murder of his former girlfriend in Spalding County. (Photo: Natrice Miller/ Natrice.miller@ajc.com)

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