Pam
06-16-2002, 04:23 PM
ALABAMA:
AG seeks execution date in cop killer case
George Sibley could soon be following his common-law wife, cop killer Linda Lyon Block, to Alabama's execution chamber,
but he may not die in the electric chair like she did.
Sibley could become the 1st - or one of the 1st - inmates executed under Alabama's new lethal injection law.
State Attorney General Bill Pryor has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to set execution dates for Sibley, as well as fellow death row inmates Daniel Lee Siebert and Anthony Keith Johnson. When the court sets a date, it will be after a new state law takes effect July 1 to change Alabama's primary means of execution to lethal injection.
Brian Corbett, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said the Supreme Court traditionally sets an execution date giving the prison system a month or more to prepare.
Siebert and Johnson have attorneys who can appeal their execution dates, but Sibley - like his common-law wife - has not pursued any appeals in two years and has not notified court officials of any plans to do so.
Block was executed on May 10 at Holman Prison near Atmore with no last-minute appeals and with no family member or
attorney in attendance.
"I think he would follow his wife's footsteps," said Esther Brown, executive secretary-treasurer of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Alabama's new execution law allows a death-row inmate to opt for the electric chair if he desires. The law is patterned after a statute in Florida. Alabama prison officials visited Florida 2 weeks ago to review the state's procedures.
Corbett said the current death chamber at Holman Prison near Atmore does not have enough room to be used for lethal
injections. "It's already small and cramped," he said.
Alabama prison officials are still trying to decide how to carry out lethal injections at Holman and have not begun any
construction, but they will be ready when an execution date is set, Corbett said.
Prison officials have not yet asked Sibley about his preference because no execution date has been set.
Sibley and Block were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die for the Oct. 4, 1993 shooting death of police officer Roger Motley Jr. in a shopping center parking lot in Opelika.
Siebert was sentenced to die for the Feb. 19, 1986, strangulations of 24-year-old Sherri Weathers and her sons, Chad Weathers, 5, and Joey Weathers, 4, in Talladega. Siebert had dated Weathers before the killings.
Johnson was convicted of capital murder for a gun battle that killed jewelry dealer Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery at his
Hartselle home on March 11, 1984.
The attorney general's office asked the Supreme Court to set an execution date for Siebert and Johnson because they have
completed their appeals in federal court.
Sibley's case took a different path. Pryor's office wrote Sibley at Holman Prison in September, saying Sibley had taken no legal action in his case since 2000 and the attorney general would seek an execution date if Sibley didn't file an appeal by May 31.
When he failed to file, the attorney general's staff told the Supreme Court: "It is time for Sibley's death sentence to be carried out."
A check with groups that normally assist death-row inmates turned up none that had any recent contact with Sibley.
Block's execution was the first in Alabama since 2000. 5 execution dates were set between 2000 and Block's date last month, but all were postponed because of legal appeals, Corbett said.
Brown said any death-row inmate with an attorney can probably get an execution date delayed because the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Arizona's death penalty law. The decision could affect 9 states, including Alabama, where judges not juries decide death sentences.
(source: Associated Press)
AG seeks execution date in cop killer case
George Sibley could soon be following his common-law wife, cop killer Linda Lyon Block, to Alabama's execution chamber,
but he may not die in the electric chair like she did.
Sibley could become the 1st - or one of the 1st - inmates executed under Alabama's new lethal injection law.
State Attorney General Bill Pryor has asked the Alabama Supreme Court to set execution dates for Sibley, as well as fellow death row inmates Daniel Lee Siebert and Anthony Keith Johnson. When the court sets a date, it will be after a new state law takes effect July 1 to change Alabama's primary means of execution to lethal injection.
Brian Corbett, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said the Supreme Court traditionally sets an execution date giving the prison system a month or more to prepare.
Siebert and Johnson have attorneys who can appeal their execution dates, but Sibley - like his common-law wife - has not pursued any appeals in two years and has not notified court officials of any plans to do so.
Block was executed on May 10 at Holman Prison near Atmore with no last-minute appeals and with no family member or
attorney in attendance.
"I think he would follow his wife's footsteps," said Esther Brown, executive secretary-treasurer of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Alabama's new execution law allows a death-row inmate to opt for the electric chair if he desires. The law is patterned after a statute in Florida. Alabama prison officials visited Florida 2 weeks ago to review the state's procedures.
Corbett said the current death chamber at Holman Prison near Atmore does not have enough room to be used for lethal
injections. "It's already small and cramped," he said.
Alabama prison officials are still trying to decide how to carry out lethal injections at Holman and have not begun any
construction, but they will be ready when an execution date is set, Corbett said.
Prison officials have not yet asked Sibley about his preference because no execution date has been set.
Sibley and Block were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die for the Oct. 4, 1993 shooting death of police officer Roger Motley Jr. in a shopping center parking lot in Opelika.
Siebert was sentenced to die for the Feb. 19, 1986, strangulations of 24-year-old Sherri Weathers and her sons, Chad Weathers, 5, and Joey Weathers, 4, in Talladega. Siebert had dated Weathers before the killings.
Johnson was convicted of capital murder for a gun battle that killed jewelry dealer Kenneth Cantrell during a robbery at his
Hartselle home on March 11, 1984.
The attorney general's office asked the Supreme Court to set an execution date for Siebert and Johnson because they have
completed their appeals in federal court.
Sibley's case took a different path. Pryor's office wrote Sibley at Holman Prison in September, saying Sibley had taken no legal action in his case since 2000 and the attorney general would seek an execution date if Sibley didn't file an appeal by May 31.
When he failed to file, the attorney general's staff told the Supreme Court: "It is time for Sibley's death sentence to be carried out."
A check with groups that normally assist death-row inmates turned up none that had any recent contact with Sibley.
Block's execution was the first in Alabama since 2000. 5 execution dates were set between 2000 and Block's date last month, but all were postponed because of legal appeals, Corbett said.
Brown said any death-row inmate with an attorney can probably get an execution date delayed because the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing Arizona's death penalty law. The decision could affect 9 states, including Alabama, where judges not juries decide death sentences.
(source: Associated Press)