Georgia
Clemency meeting to be held for Georgia man scheduled to be executed March 20
JACKSON, Ga. – The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles has announced that on March 19, it will convene a clemency meeting for 59-year-old Willie James Pye, a condemned inmate facing execution.
Pye’s execution has been scheduled by the Spalding County Superior Court for March 20 at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. The window for execution runs from March 20 to March 27.
PREVIOUS STORY: Georgia prepares to resume executions after COVID pause, legal agreement
During the March 19 meeting, members of the Georgia Parole Board will listen to testimony both for and against granting clemency for Pye.
The meeting is slated to commence at 9 a.m. Following deliberations, the Board will decide whether to commute Pye’s death sentence to life imprisonment with or without the possibility of parole, issue a stay of execution, or deny clemency. In Georgia, only the Parole Board holds the authority to grant executive clemency to condemned inmates.
Pye’s conviction stems from the 1993 murder of his former girlfriend Alicia Yarbrough, for which he was found guilty of malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, armed robbery, burglary, and rape. He was sentenced to death for malice murder after a trial in June 1996.
The last execution in Georgia was January 2020.
Georgia
Georgia softball rallies in dramatic fashion, keeps season alive
Georgia softball stars Jayda Kearney and Sara Mosley were named first-team All-SEC picks on Friday, with Dallis Goodnight a second-team pick, but that would serve as no …
Mike Griffith
Georgia
11 injured in shooting in Savannah, Georgia
Police in Savannah, Georgia, are investigating a shooting that injured 11 people in the city’s downtown area on Saturday night.
The shooting broke out just before midnight in Ellis Square, a fixture of Savannah’s historic district and a popular tourist attraction. Several precincts responded at 11:55 p.m. to reports of gunfire in the area, the Savannah Police Department said in a news release issued Sunday morning.
At the time, detectives were probing the incident and had interviewed witnesses as part of their investigation, which was still ongoing. Savannah police have not identified suspects or announced any arrests in the case.
Everyone hurt in the shooting, including the people who suffered gunshot wounds, are adults, according to the police department, and some were transported from the scene to Memorial Health University Medical Center. Police did not share details about the nature or extent of those injuries but said in Sunday’s news release that “as of now, no deaths have occurred because of the incident.”
They told CBS affiliate WTOC that at least 10 people were believed to be hurt as a result of the gunfire. All 11 people received treatment overnight for their injuries, which police said were not considered life-threatening, WTOC reported.
Police have asked anyone with information about the shooting to contact Crime Stoppers at 912-234-2020.
Georgia
Freemasons and ‘global war party’ conspiring against Georgia, ruling party claims
Asked to explain whom Ivanishvili was referring to, Lashkhi volunteered that “freemasons” were behind schemes across the world. “We were seeing they do have the influence on global politics,” she insisted, but declined to name any other groups supposedly responsible.
“Today, when me, myself, I am involved in foreign relations and sometimes when I have the partnership and then they say that, well, you are OK and you are doing well but then there is an additional voice,” she went on.
Asked on a recent visit to the South Caucasus country for his thoughts on the idea of a “global war party” — a notion that echoes pro-Russian propaganda — Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis burst out laughing. However, “it’s not a joke because it’s a serious thing and it’s the Kremlin’s narrative,” he said.
“The only war party is in Moscow,” Landsbergis added. “This is the party that attacked Georgia in 2008; this is the party that attacked Ukraine in 2014, and is currently waging a war against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is our obligation to those who value freedom to fight this party and win this war,” he said.
Tens of thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets in recent weeks to oppose Georgian Dream’s proposals to require NGOs, campaign groups and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “organizations serving the interests of a foreign power.” Brussels has said the move is “incompatible with European values,” warning it would bar Georgia’s path to joining as a full member just six months after it was granted candidate status.
Police have used tear gas, riot shields and batons against protesters, and swooped in to arrest organizers and opposition politicians. At the same time, the government is pushing forward with a planned law to outlaw “LGBT propaganda,” which critics say would ban everything from film screenings to annual Pride events. The move would mirror rules used by Russia to persecute minority groups.
On Saturday, the chair of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, confirmed he would introduce legislation in Washington that would open the door to sanctioning leading Georgian Dream politicians.
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