Alabama executes man for 1998 robbery and murder

 The 10th Execution of 2024

Keith Edmund Gavin was executed by lethal injection on July 18, 2024, making him the third man Alabama has executed in 2024.

Gavin was sentenced to death on the 10-2 recommendation of a jury, Alabama and Florida are the only states that authorize execution with less than a unanimous vote of the jurors.

The 64-year-old was put to death for the March 1998 murder of William “Bill” Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County. Clayton was gunned down near an ATM while getting cash to take his wife on a date that evening.

Gavin’s execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. It happened at the scheduled time, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case around 5:15 p.m.

That denial came after he filed a handwritten appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday evening challenging a state judge’s dismissal of his motion to stay the execution because the judge would not waive the filing fees - finding that Gavin had enough money in his prison account.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall commented on the execution, sending a statement to the media: “There is no doubt about Gavin’s guilt for this heinous offense. 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 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.”

Gov. Kay Ivey also made a statement. “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. 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.”

She continued, “I offer my prayers for Mr. Clayton’s family and friends who still mourn his loss all these years later.”

Execution

The curtains to the three viewing rooms opened 6:09 p.m.

When the curtain opened, Gavin was in the execution chamber and strapped onto the gurney in a standard white sheet. His imam, dressed in a black robe, was speaking and Gavin’s lips were moving. Their conversation couldn’t be heard in the viewing rooms.

At 6:11 p.m., Holman warden Terry Raybon read the state’s death warrant as Gavin’s lips continue to move.

When the warden offered him the microphone to say his last words, Gavin said, “I love my family.” He then followed that statement with several words in Arabic.

His lips continued to move as he stretched both hands against the straps on the gurney with his index fingers pointed upward.

Gavin then leaned his head back and closed his eyes. His mouth fell slightly open as his imam appeared to continue speaking or in prayer. Shortly after, the imam stepped back from the gurney.

At 6:19 p.m., a corrections officer performed a standard consciousness check by yelling Gavin’s name, brushing his eyelid, and pinching his left arm. The check is intended to make sure an inmate is unconscious from the first drug before administering the two other drugs that stop the heart and lungs.

At 6:20 p.m.., Gavin appeared to take his last breath.

The curtains closed at 6:25 p.m.

Matthew Clayton, the youngest of Bill Clayton’s seven children witnessed the execution and talked to reporters following an Alabama Department of Corrections press conference.

He called his dad “the last victim of Keith Edmund Gavin.”

Gavin committed the fatal shooting while on parole for another murder in Illinois.

On behalf of his family, Matthew Clayton thanked Ivey for standing for principles and “creating a line in the sand to let violent criminals know that taking the life of innocent individuals will not be tolerated in the state.”

He thanked the Attorney General’s Office for their dedication and hard work, and law enforcement for their apprehension of Gavin.

Matthew Clayton described his father as a large man 6 feet and 6 inches, weighing about 280 pounds. He was a gregarious, fun person, said Matthew Clayton, and a devoted husband of 38 years to his mother. Bill Clayton was in the Army in the Korean War, and was a man with rural American values.

“I have often described him as a slice of Americana,” said Matthew Clayton. “He had an incredible work ethic from his roots as an Alabama farm boy.”

“It’s quite unfortunate his final years were taken from him in such a brutal way.”

Matthew Clayton said his family was told Gavin was indoctrinated to gang violence at an early age in Chicago. They were told that when Gavin was a teenager he killed another gang member, but that killing didn’t result in a conviction. Gavin then committed another murder at 19 -- which was the crime he was on parole for when he fatally shot Bill Clayton.

“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. Could that have prevented the murder of Bill Clayton...”

Final hours

Earlier Wednesday, prison officials gave a rundown of Gavin’s past 24 hours, including visitors and final meals.

On Wednesday his visitors were spiritual advisor Aswan Adul Addarr, attorneys Neil Conrad and Daniel Epstein. He refused breakfast, but had snacks of Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream Potato Chips, Lay’s Plain Potato Chips, and a chocolate Hersey Bar with almonds. He refused his lunch and dinner meals. He had no phone calls on Wednesday.

Thursday, he was visited by friend Lauren Gill, attorneys Kelly Huggins, Neil Conrad and Daniel Epstein. Gavin refused his breakfast, but had ice cream and Mountain Dew.

He accepted his lunch meal and refused his final meal. He did not make any special requests.

Prison officials also said Gavin’s execution witnesses were attorneys Neil Conrad and Daniel Epstein, friend Lauren Gill, and spiritual advisor Aswan Abdul Addarr.

Earlier Thursday, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office responded to Gavin’s appeal to the nation’s high court. The office said the appeal was “purely a state-law issue.”

“Second, a stay of execution would only serve to delay Gavin’s execution and not result in relief, as the claims he raises are meritless. Finally, the public interest weighs in favor of allowing the State to carry out his execution, and Gavin’s multi-decade delay should not be excused.”

Gavin, whose attorneys have not responded to repeated requests for comment from AL.com, was executed via Alabama’s three-drug lethal injection procedure. He did not opt-in to dying by nitrogen gas—a novel method Alabama first tried in January with the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith—when inmates on Alabama Death Row had the opportunity to do so in June 2018.

Alabama’s lethal injection protocol requires two intravenous lines for the three-drug lethal injection cocktail. Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said the execution team stuck Gavin three times for the required two IV lines.

The process did not cause delays in the execution, as executions prior have stretched into the night and early morning hours because of issues with IV lines.

He was the second lethal injection this year. Jamie Ray Mills was executed in May. And, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office is seeking execution orders for at least two more men later this year.

The state is set to have its second nitrogen execution in September. Alan Miller, who survived a lethal injection attempt in 2022, is set to be suffocated using nitrogen gas. So far, Alabama is the only state in the country to have used the new method.

Lawsuits

While Gavin did not specifically challenge Alabama’s fatal injection cocktail in the courts leading up to his execution, he did argue that his devout Muslim faith requires his body to be kept intact after his death and that he didn’t want a state autopsy.

After a brief legal battle in state court, the state obliged his request. “No autopsy will be performed on Keith Edmund Gavin,” said a statement from the Alabama Department of Corrections. “His remains will be picked up by the attending funeral home.”

And, despite that same lawsuit saying Gavin wouldn’t be fighting his impending death, days later Gavin filed a handwritten motion to another judge. He asked for a stay of execution, without involving his attorneys, and for a status that allows poor people to have court filing fees waived.

Cherokee County Circuit Court Judge Shaunathan C. Bell on July 10 ruled that Gavin had more than enough in his prison account to pay the filing fee and denied his request. The judge also dismissed Gavin’s motion for a stay.

That was the case that Gavin later appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Crime

William C. “Bill” Clayton Jr. was a Korean War veteran who retired after working 15 years for L&N Railroad and another decade at AmSouth Bank, according to his obituary. In retirement, the father of seven took a contract job making deliveries for Corporate Express Delivery Systems, Inc.

Just after 6:30 p.m. on March 6, 1998, the 68-year-old Birmingham man’s life ended when he crossed paths with Gavin, who had just arrived in downtown Centre. He had come from Illinois, where he had recently been paroled after serving 17 years of a 34-year sentence for murder.

Clayton had just finished making his deliveries for the day and had stopped in his work van at the Regions Bank in downtown Centre to get cash from the ATM. He was planning to take his wife on a date that evening.

He never got to take his wife to dinner.

Gavin shot Clayton while attempting to rob him at the ATM, according to court records. Then, Gavin pushed him into the passenger seat of the van and drove off.

Several witnesses, including Gavin’s cousin that had traveled from Illinois with him, identified Gavin as the gunman.

Gavin’s cousin testified that when they stopped at the intersection near the courthouse and the Regions Bank Gavin got out of his cousin’s vehicle and approached a van that was parked nearby. The cousin testified he thought Gavin was going to ask the driver of the van for directions. However, when he looked up, he saw that the driver’s side door of the van was open, and Gavin was holding a gun. The cousin stated that he watched as Gavin fired two shots at the driver of the van. The cousin testified he fled the scene.

An investigator with the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office testified at Gavin’s trial that he was returning to Centre from Fort Payne when he heard over the radio that there had been a shooting and that both the shooter and the victim were traveling in a white van with lettering on the outside. As he proceeded toward Centre, the investigator said, he saw a van matching the description given out over the radio and followed it.

At one point the van stopped, a man the investigator identified as Gavin got out and fired a round of shots.

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