By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
After the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-minute, hand-written appeal, twice-convicted killer Keith Edmund Gavin was put to death by lethal injection last Thursday, July 18, at William C. Holman Correctional Facility (HCF) outside Atmore.
The nation’s high court reportedly reviewed the case around 5:15 p.m. before issuing a denial, and the execution commenced at 6 p.m., its scheduled time. Gavin, 64, was officially pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.
When HCF Warden Terry Raybon offered Gavin a microphone for any last words, the condemned man expressed love for his family, then reportedly said several words in Arabic before the execution continued.
Gavin was sentenced to death for the March 1998 murder of William “Bill” Clayton Jr., a delivery service courier. Court documents show that at the time of that killing, Gavin was on parole in Illinois, where he had served half a 34-year sentence for a murder conviction in that state.
Gov. Kay Ivey and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall each commented after the execution that justice had finally been served, although it came 26 years after Clayton was gunned down.
“After receiving a death sentence, Mr. Gavin appealed time after time, for years, to avoid justice, but failed at every attempt,” the governor said. “Today, that justice was finally delivered for Mr. Clayton’s loved ones.”
Marshall said there was no doubt the state had executed a guilty man. The AG pointed out that four witnesses, including a cousin of Gavin, saw him murder Clayton, who left a wife and seven children behind. The courier had finished work and had stopped by Regions Bank in Centre to withdraw money to take his wife to dinner.
“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,” Marshall said. “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.”
Gavin’s execution was Alabama’s third this year.