ATMORE — The Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) successfully carried out the lethal injection execution of 64-year-old Keith Edmund Gavin Thursday evening after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final attempt to stay the execution.
Gavin was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the course of a robbery in connection with the slaying of 68-year-old William Clayton, Jr. 26 years ago.
A little after 6:30 p.m. on March 6, 1998, Clayton, a contract courier for Corporate Express Delivery Systems, Inc., was shot and killed while sitting in a Corporate Express van outside the Regions Bank in downtown Centre. Clayton had finished his daily deliveries and stopped at Regions Bank to get money from an ATM to take his wife to dinner.
Gavin shot Clayton before pushing him into the passenger seat and driving away with the van. After a nearby investigator attempted to pull the van over, Gavin emerged from the vehicle and fired at the agent before fleeing into the woods. Gavin was apprehended shortly after, while Clayton was pronounced dead at the hospital.
There were four eyewitnesses to the crime, two of whom positively identified Gavin as the shooter. Gavin was already on probation for one year after serving only 17 years of a 34-year sentence for murder in Illinois when he killed Clayton. Gavin was released from Prison just months before murdering Clayton. The jury convicted Gavin in 1999 and voted 10-2 to recommend the death penalty, which the judge imposed.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre ruled that Gavin’s council was “Constitutionally ineffective” and failed to bring evidence of Gavin’s rough upbringing at trial, among other things. However, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals swiftly struck down that decision that same year, allowing the execution to continue. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Gavin’s case three times since his conviction. However, the Court finally heard Gavin’s appeal on Thursday, denying it in the early evening.
Gavin’s attorneys also sued the State, asking the ADOC not to perform an autopsy on his body since it would conflict with his Muslim beliefs. The state settled the lawsuit by agreeing not to perform the autopsy.
The process began on Thursday evening. ADOC did not have a clock present in the death chamber, so exact timing is unclear. The curtains raised around 6:09 p.m. Two minutes later, the warden read the death warrant. According to ADOC officials, Gavin refused all of his meals on Thursday, only snacking on candy bars, chips and ice cream. ADOC commissioner John Hamm said Gavin requested a final meal that conformed to the Muslim religion but was denied due to ADOC protocol.
Most of Gavin’s final words were unintelligible. However, he began by stating, “I love my family,” before his words became mumbled. It appeared as though he concluded his statement with an Islamic prayer. He held both hands with the index finger outward, a Muslim symbol of Tahwid, the Islamic doctrine of the oneness of Allah.
As the process started, Gavin’s spiritual advisor, Imam Aswan Abdul Addarr, began to pray over Gavin. Gavin appeared to join in the prayer while seeming visibly emotional. He appeared to lose consciousness at 6:16. A corrections officer performed a consciousness check at 6:19, and one minute later, Gavin seemed to take his last breath. He was officially declared dead by physicians at 6:32 p.m.
Two of Gavin’s attorneys and one friend were present in the gallery.
Following the execution, Hamm said it required three sticks to establish both IV lines with Gavin. Last year, the state had to call off multiple lethal injections due to the inability to establish an IV line.
Matthew Clayton, the youngest of William Clayton’s seven children, spoke fondly of his father after the execution, describing him as a man with “an incredible work ethic” and “real American values.” William Clayton’s late wife is still alive at 94. Matthew Clayton thanked Gov. Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall for seeing the process through Gavin’s appeals and finally allowing his family justice.
“It’s quite unfortunate that his final years were taken from him in such a brutal way,” Matthew Clayton said. “I would say that Bill did not deserve to die this way.”
Matthew Clayton seemed to express empathy for Cavin’s upbringing, saying he was “indoctrinated into gang violence” from a young age in Chicago. He described details given by prosecutors that he said suggested Gavin likely had killed more people than those for whom he received convictions. He was also critical of Gavin’s early release and the State of Illinois for granting him the reprieve.
“I think for us, it’s always been a question as to, could the state of Illinois done a better job at protecting their citizenry and protecting the people of this country,” Matthew Clayton continued. “Could that have prevented the death of Bill Clayton, an innocent man who did not deserve to die at that time? So, there’s justice. There’s maybe peace for my family and for the families of the victims of Mr. Gavin. But that question will always remain with me.”
Both Ivey and Marshall released statements following the execution, applauding the justice done.
“After a Cherokee County courier, William Clayton, Jr., finished his day’s work, he stopped at an ATM so he could treat his wife to dinner, only to be robbed of his life by Keith Gavin,” Ivey said. “After receiving a death sentence, Mr. Gavin appealed time after time for years to avoid justice, but failed at every attempt. Today, that justice was finally delivered for Mr. Clayton’s loved ones. I offer my prayers for Mr. Clayton’s family and friends who still mourn his loss all these years later.”
Marshall echoed Ivey’s sentiments of justice and wished William Clayton’s surviving family well.
“There is no doubt about Gavin’s guilt for this heinous offense,” Marshall said. “In 1998, Gavin was identified by four witnesses, including his own cousin, for walking up to a Corporate Express van outside a Regions Bank, where he shot and killed the driver, William Clayton. He subsequently stole the van and drove off with the victim as Clayton’s life slipped away.
“William Clayton was a devoted father of seven who had just finished his workday and had stopped to get cash for a date with his wife," he added. "He was slain in cold blood by a repeat murderer. I cannot imagine the shock, pain, and frustration that William’s family has endured over the last 26 years. I pray his family finds solace in the long-awaited justice by the State of Alabama.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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