Lynda Cheryle Lyon was born February 8, 1948, in Orlando, Florida, to Francis (Frank) Stephen Lyon and Berylene Elisabeth Owen. Lynda, and her sister Denyce (born 1952), lost their father when she was 10, when he died of heart failure. Lynda and her mother were never close, and Block claimed that her mother was both physically and mentally abusive.
On October 4, 1993, a passer-by expressed concern to Opelika police Sergeant Roger Motley about Lyon's son, who was in a parked car with her common law husband, George Sibley. By Sibley's own account, he was explaining to Motley, who had asked for his driver's license, why he was not required to have one when he observed Motley placing his hand on his service revolver. Sibley then drew his gun. Motley took cover behind his patrol car; witnesses stated Sibley fired first. Block was at a payphone when she heard gunfire. Witnesses stated that she was in a crouched position when she fired; she claimed that she fired just as she stopped running toward Motley. Motley, who had given his bulletproof vest to a rookie officer, was mortally wounded in the chest.
Part of an anti-government movement, Block and Sibley had renounced their citizenship and destroyed their birth certificates, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards. They refused to cooperate with their court-appointed attorneys, maintaining that they had acted in self-defense. They also maintained that Alabama did not have the authority to try them as it was not properly re-admitted into the Union after the American Civil War. Although it could not be determined who fired the fatal shot, they were both 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 Block's ex-husband.
Block was executed May 10, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility, Atmore, Alabama. Hers was the first execution of a woman in the state of Alabama since 1957. She was the 9th female executed in the U.S. since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 and she was the last person to be electrocuted in Alabama.
Sibley filed a hand-written petition asking the Alabama Supreme Court to block his execution, claiming that Lyon had fired the shot that killed Motley. He was executed on 4 August 2005 by lethal injection.
On October 4, 1993, a passer-by expressed concern to Opelika police Sergeant Roger Motley about Lyon's son, who was in a parked car with her common law husband, George Sibley. By Sibley's own account, he was explaining to Motley, who had asked for his driver's license, why he was not required to have one when he observed Motley placing his hand on his service revolver. Sibley then drew his gun. Motley took cover behind his patrol car; witnesses stated Sibley fired first. Block was at a payphone when she heard gunfire. Witnesses stated that she was in a crouched position when she fired; she claimed that she fired just as she stopped running toward Motley. Motley, who had given his bulletproof vest to a rookie officer, was mortally wounded in the chest.
Part of an anti-government movement, Block and Sibley had renounced their citizenship and destroyed their birth certificates, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards. They refused to cooperate with their court-appointed attorneys, maintaining that they had acted in self-defense. They also maintained that Alabama did not have the authority to try them as it was not properly re-admitted into the Union after the American Civil War. Although it could not be determined who fired the fatal shot, they were both 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 Block's ex-husband.
Block was executed May 10, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility, Atmore, Alabama. Hers was the first execution of a woman in the state of Alabama since 1957. She was the 9th female executed in the U.S. since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 and she was the last person to be electrocuted in Alabama.
Sibley filed a hand-written petition asking the Alabama Supreme Court to block his execution, claiming that Lyon had fired the shot that killed Motley. He was executed on 4 August 2005 by lethal injection.
Lynda Cheryle Lyon was born February 8, 1948, in Orlando, Florida, to Francis (Frank) Stephen Lyon and Berylene Elisabeth Owen. Lynda, and her sister Denyce (born 1952), lost their father when she was 10, when he died of heart failure. Lynda and her mother were never close, and Block claimed that her mother was both physically and mentally abusive.
On October 4, 1993, a passer-by expressed concern to Opelika police Sergeant Roger Motley about Lyon's son, who was in a parked car with her common law husband, George Sibley. By Sibley's own account, he was explaining to Motley, who had asked for his driver's license, why he was not required to have one when he observed Motley placing his hand on his service revolver. Sibley then drew his gun. Motley took cover behind his patrol car; witnesses stated Sibley fired first. Block was at a payphone when she heard gunfire. Witnesses stated that she was in a crouched position when she fired; she claimed that she fired just as she stopped running toward Motley. Motley, who had given his bulletproof vest to a rookie officer, was mortally wounded in the chest.
Part of an anti-government movement, Block and Sibley had renounced their citizenship and destroyed their birth certificates, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards. They refused to cooperate with their court-appointed attorneys, maintaining that they had acted in self-defense. They also maintained that Alabama did not have the authority to try them as it was not properly re-admitted into the Union after the American Civil War. Although it could not be determined who fired the fatal shot, they were both 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 Block's ex-husband.
Block was executed May 10, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility, Atmore, Alabama. Hers was the first execution of a woman in the state of Alabama since 1957. She was the 9th female executed in the U.S. since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 and she was the last person to be electrocuted in Alabama.
Sibley filed a hand-written petition asking the Alabama Supreme Court to block his execution, claiming that Lyon had fired the shot that killed Motley. He was executed on 4 August 2005 by lethal injection.
On October 4, 1993, a passer-by expressed concern to Opelika police Sergeant Roger Motley about Lyon's son, who was in a parked car with her common law husband, George Sibley. By Sibley's own account, he was explaining to Motley, who had asked for his driver's license, why he was not required to have one when he observed Motley placing his hand on his service revolver. Sibley then drew his gun. Motley took cover behind his patrol car; witnesses stated Sibley fired first. Block was at a payphone when she heard gunfire. Witnesses stated that she was in a crouched position when she fired; she claimed that she fired just as she stopped running toward Motley. Motley, who had given his bulletproof vest to a rookie officer, was mortally wounded in the chest.
Part of an anti-government movement, Block and Sibley had renounced their citizenship and destroyed their birth certificates, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards. They refused to cooperate with their court-appointed attorneys, maintaining that they had acted in self-defense. They also maintained that Alabama did not have the authority to try them as it was not properly re-admitted into the Union after the American Civil War. Although it could not be determined who fired the fatal shot, they were both 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 Block's ex-husband.
Block was executed May 10, 2002 at Holman Correctional Facility, Atmore, Alabama. Hers was the first execution of a woman in the state of Alabama since 1957. She was the 9th female executed in the U.S. since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 and she was the last person to be electrocuted in Alabama.
Sibley filed a hand-written petition asking the Alabama Supreme Court to block his execution, claiming that Lyon had fired the shot that killed Motley. He was executed on 4 August 2005 by lethal injection.
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