Lynda Lyon Block

Lynda Cheryl Lyon Block (February 8, 1948 - May 10, 2002) was an American woman executed by the U.S. state of Alabama for her role in killing police Sergeant Roger Motley, Jr. She was born in Orlando, Florida.

On October 4, 1993 in Opelika, Alabama Lyon shot Motley outside of a Wal-Mart during a gunfight between him and her common-law husband, George Sibley, Jr. The incident began when a passer-by expressed concern to Motley about Lyon's son, who was in the couple's parked car, and looked as though he was asking for help. By Sibley's own account, he was trying to explain to Motley why he did not need a driver's license when Motley put his hand on his service revolver. Sibley then drew his gun out of the car. Motley took cover behind his patrol car; witnesses stated Sibley fired first. Lyon was at a payphone when she heard gunfire. Witnesses stated that she was in a crouched position when she fired; she said she fired just as she stopped running toward Motley. Motley, who had given his bulletproof vest to a rookie officer, was hit in the chest.

She kept firing as he got into his patrol car because, she recalled later, she feared he was getting a shotgun. On May 10, 2002 in Atmore, Alabama she became the last person executed in Yellow Mama, and the first woman executed by Alabama since 1957.

Lyon and Sibley were staunch libertarians who had renounced their citizenship and destroyed their birth certificates.Fact|date=October 2007 They therefore refused to cooperate with their court-appointed attorneys or file appeals. They maintained they acted in self-defense. They also maintained Alabama had no jurisdiction as it was not properly re-admitted into the Union after the American Civil War. As it could not be determined who fired the fatal shot, each was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. At the time of the incident, they were on the run from Florida to escape sentencing for an assault on Lyon's ex-husband.

After Lyon's execution, Sibley filed a hand-written petition asking the Alabama Supreme Court to block his execution, since it was Lyon and not he who had fired the shot that killed Motley. Sibley was executed on August 4, 2005 by lethal injection.

ee also

*Capital punishment in the United States
*List of individuals executed in Alabama

References

* [http://www.angelfire.com/al4/alajustice/lynda.html Lynda Lyon Official Website]
* [http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/block775.htm Clark County Prosecutor file on Lynda Lyon]
* [http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/sibley977.htm Clark County Prosecutor file on George Sibley, Jr.]
* [http://www.prisonpotpourri.com/LYON/INTERVIEW_LL.html Channel 12 interview with Lynda Lyon]