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.  Her second husband, George Sibley, claims that a constant trait of Block’s was charity. While living in Key West she served as Secretary of the Humane Society, and also as animal abuse investigator. She was also active in civic work besides her service to the Humane Society: for two years she served as president of the Friends of the Library in Key West and served as publicity director for a mayoral candidate.  Before the crime that led to her conviction and transfer to Alabama’s death row, Block published Liberatis, a political magazine. She came from such a high social standing that many were shocked to learn of her crime.

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, and looked as though he wanted help. 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.[6] 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, Alabama Institutional Serial #Z575, entered death row on December 21, 1994. While on death row, she was held at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama.  During her time on death row, Block was interviewed by writer Tahir Shah, who included her reflections in his book Travels With Myself, in the chapter entitled “Women on Death Row”. In her very candid responses, Block reflects on the incident that got her sentenced to death, her reaction upon hearing the sentence, and what it was like to live on death row. Shah also shared a video on his YouTube channel, also titled “Women on Death Row,” where he discusses his experience interviewing Block on death row.