The state of Alabama has executed Keith Edmund Gavin following his conviction for the murder of William Clinton Clayton Jr. in Centre, Alabama, 25 years ago.
The 64-year-old Gavin was put to death yesterday evening by lethal injection. The condemned man, who was a Muslim, didn’t say much in his final statement beyond uttering, “I love my family,” followed by a few Arabic phrases seemingly relating to Allah.
Gavin was then given a sedative, causing his head to fall back onto the gurney. A corrections officer then made sure he was unconscious before the final two drugs were administered, ending his life.
The killer was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m., and according to witnesses, he appeared to show no physical reaction.
Gavin refused a last meal, preferring a snack of some ice cream and a Mountain Dew.
The prisoner was convicted of killing the 68-year-old father of seven, William Clayton. On March 6, 1998, Clayton had just finished work as a courier driver when he pulled up at an ATM to withdraw money for a date night with his wife.
Keith Gavin shot William Clayton during a botched robbery in Centre, Alabama
Gavin had driven down from Chicago with his cousin Dewayne Meeks. The pair spotted Clayton pull up at the ATM, and Gavin ran up to the van and fired two shots at his victim with a 40-caliber Glock pistol.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelMeeks claimed he became scared and drove off. Gavin pushed the bleeding Clayton onto the passenger seat and drove off in the van.
A police officer pursued the van until Gavin bailed out and ran toward a wood; as he fled into the wood, he fired a shot at the police officer. The cops found Clayton barely clinging to life in the van, but sadly, he passed away a short time later. Gavin was soon apprehended in the woods.
The killer was out on bail, having already served 17 years of a 34 sentence for a murder in 1984.
Clayton was a Korean War veteran who had retired from his job on the railroad but had taken up the courier job to help out his family.
In recent interviews, Clayton’s son, Matthew Clayton, called his father a “gentle giant” and a “slice of Americana” who had often worked two jobs to support his family.
The younger Clayton said, “It’s quite unfortunate that his final years were taken from him in such a brutal way,” adding that his father “did not deserve to die this way.”
Keith Gavin always claimed he was innocent of killing William Clayton
Gavin always claimed that he was innocent and blamed Meeks for the killing. Meeks’s testimony was key in Gavin’s conviction. He attempted numerous appeals, but they all failed.
The prisoner’s family had complained that Alabama officials ignored mitigating factors in Gavin’s background that might have saved him from execution. Gavin grew up in a gang-riddled neighborhood in Chicago and was immersed in a life of drugs and violence from an early age. His mother lamented that her son didn’t have the money to retain a “real attorney.”
Gavin was the third prisoner to be executed this year in Alabama and the tenth in the US.