WASHINGTON,10 MAG - Una donna di 53 anni, accusata di avere ucciso un poliziotto nel 1993, e' stata messa a morte questa mattina sulla sedia elettrica nel carcere di Atmore, in Alabama.

    Lynda Lyon Block e' stata la prima donna a morire per mano del boia in Alabama dal 1957 e sara' probabilmente l'ultima persona a morire sulla sedia elettrica in questo stato che dal primo luglio adottera' il metodo della iniezione letale.

   La donna, condannata a morte insieme al suo compagno che e' tuttora in attesa dell'esecuzione, non ha voluto rilasciare alcuna dichiarazione prima di morire. 

ALABAMA - Execution, female

Cop-killer dies in Alabama electric chair; 1st woman executed in state in 45 years

In Atmore, a political extremist convicted of murdering a policeman in 1993 was put to death in the electric chair Friday, becoming the 1st woman executed in Alabama in 45 years.

Lynda Lyon Block declined to pursue final appeals late Thursday, claiming the courts were corrupt and lacked jurisdiction in her case. She was put to death shortly after midnight.

Block, 54, may be the last person forced to die in the state's electric chair. Under a law that takes effect this summer, condemned inmates in Alabama will be executed by injection unless they choose the electric chair.

Block and her common-law husband, George Sibley, were sentenced to death for killing Opelika police officer Roger Motley Jr. in a burst of gunfire in a shopping center parking lot. The couple said Motley was reaching for his gun when they shot him.

 Block and Sibley, who decried government controls over individuals and renounced their U.S. citizenship, were on the run at the time to avoid being sentenced in the stabbing of Block's former husband in Orlando, Fla.

 "The Bible says when murder happens and a person has no sorrow, they are to be immediately executed," said Anne Motley, the victim's mother.

 Alabama's electric chair, built in 1927, has been used for 176 executions since it replaced hanging as the state's primary mode of execution.

 Block was the 4th woman put to death in Alabama by electrocution and the 1st since 1957, when Rhonda Bell Martin was executed for poisoning her husband with arsenic.

Block becomes the 1st condemned inmate in Alabama to be put to death this year and the 24th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

 Block become the 26th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 775th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Montgomery Advertiser

State executes Block

Alabama executed Lynda Lyon Block at 12:01 a.m. Friday for her role in killing Opelika Police Sgt. Roger Motley in 1993, prison officials said.

She was pronounced dead at 12:10 a prison official reported.

Block and her common-law husband, George Sibley were both convicted for killing Motley during a gun battle in a Wal-Mart parking lot. She was convicted of capital murder in 1994 along with Sibley, who remain on death row. Block may be the last person condemned to die in Yellow Mama, the states electric chair, which has been in use since 1927. On July 1, lethal injection becomes Alabamas preferred method of execution, though inmates can still choose to be electrocuted.

USA-execution

 Une femme executee en Alabama pour le meurtre d'un policier

 Une femme executee en Alabama pour le meurtre d'un policier

     WASHINGTON, 10 mai 2002 - Une femme de 53 ans condamnee pour le meurtre en 1993 d'un policier a ete executee vendredi sur la chaise electrique, ont annonce les autorites penitentiaires.

    Lynda Lyon Block est la premiere femme executee en Alabama depuis 1957, et la 9eme aux Etats-Unis depuis le retablissment de la peine de mort en 1976.

   L'execution a eu lieu a 05H10 GMT a la prison Holman d'Atmore.