Lynda Lyon Block
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Lynda Cheryl Lyon Block (February 8, 1948 in Orlando, Florida – May 10, 2002 in Atmore, Alabama) was a convicted murderer executed for the October 4, 1993 killing of Opelika, Alabama police Sergeant Roger Motley, Jr.
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 packed car, and looked as though he was asking for help. By Sibley's own account, he was trying to explain to Motley why he didn't 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 pay phone 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, 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. 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 wasn't properly re-admitted into the Union after the American Civil War. As it couldn't 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, maintaining she fired the shot that killed Motley. Sibley was executed on August 4, 2005 by lethal injection.
