Could have stopped wife's execution, inmate claims George Everette Sibley, waiting on Alabama's death row for a date to die, said prison officials denied his requests to talk with his wife, Lynda Lyon Block, before she died in the electric chair.

Had they talked, Sibley said in an affidavit, he would have convinced her to give up their pact not to fight the death sentences and appeal to extend her life.

Block, 54, who preferred the name Lynda Lyon, became the 1st woman executed in Alabama since 1957. She was put to death May 10 at Holman Prison without pursuing the death sentence appeals available to her. Instead, she and Sibley appealed to Congress, refusing to recognize the jurisdiction of the Alabama courts.

"Her tragic death could have been averted ... even if I could have spoken to Lynda by telephone," Sibley wrote.

However, Charlie Jones, former Holman Prison warden, said Block never asked to talk with Sibley although she had visits from lawyers, religious advisers and friends in the days before her death.

Jones said he moved Sibley out of Holman the week of the execution because "it didn't seem right that he be at the same prison that his wife was set to be executed at."

He is unaware of any requests Sibley may have made after leaving Holman, Jones said, but he does know many people tried to talk her into filing an appeal.

Sibley wrote that prison Commissioner Mike Haley "denied us even a telephone call, which completely denied to us the ability to discuss remaining appeal options. He also denied to me the ability to fax some last minute documents on Lynda's behalf, making sure that Siegelman's `trophy' murder would not be denied or delayed."

Gov. Don Siegelman denied Block's last-minute petition for a reprieve. Brian Corbett, prison spokesman, said Sibley had no rights to represent Block legally because he is not a lawyer. He was her husband, Corbett said, but was also a death row inmate and had no special privileges.

The two were convicted for the 1993 shooting death of Opelika police officer Sgt. Roger Motley. They said Motley reached for his gun first and they fired in self-defense. But witnesses said Sibley fired shots 1st and Block joined in the shootout after the officer was wounded. Weeks before her execution, Block said in a letter to The Birmingham News that she did "not regret doing what I did to save George's life."

It was their commitment to one another that led Block and Sibley to pledge not to seek further judicial appeals or outside legal help with their convictions. But, according to family and friends of the couple, as her execution neared, Sibley wanted Block to appeal. He claims in a May 29 affidavit posted on the Web that because prison officials moved him and kept him from talking to her, the execution was carried out.

Anne Holloway, Sibley's sister, said prison officials would not allow her brother any contact with Block. "They didn't give the mail to her that he had written," Holloway said. "He had asked for visitation. He contacted me once to ask me to write to her and let her know he had tried to contact her. I wrote a letter to her, but they had already moved her "from Tutwiler Prison to Holman.

Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said because Sibley was not a lawyer, his argument that he and Block had marital bonds may have been a stronger one for seeing her. "She paid the price for him waiting so late to communicate that information," Bright said.

Sibley and Block have been the only husband and wife on death row in Alabama.

Jones said there was no normal way of handling their case because it was so rare. "Customary don't fit here because it has never happened before," he said.

(source: Birmingham News)