Execution date set for death row inmate convicted of fatally shooting delivery driver in robbery attempt

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

ALABAMA, UNITED STATES: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced the scheduled date and time for the execution of a state inmate convicted of murder on Thursday, April 25th.

Ivey declared that the execution of 64-year-old Keith Edmund Gavin is set to begin at 12:00 am on Thursday, July 18, 2024, and conclude by Friday, July 19, 2024.

The execution will be conducted using lethal injection. Gavin was convicted of murdering William Clinton Clayton Jr, a delivery driver who had stopped at an ATM in Cherokee County in 1998.

What happened to William Clinton Clayton Jr?

According to court records in Gavin's case, Clayton, who worked as a courier service driver, parked his van downtown in Centre to use an ATM machine. After finishing his deliveries for the day, he stopped at Regions Bank to withdraw money for dinner with his wife.

According to records, Gavin shot Clayton during an attempted robbery, then proceeded to push him into the passenger's seat and drove away in the van.

With an investigator from the district attorney’s office closely following, Gavin stopped the van, got out, fired at the investigator, and then fled the scene.

Gavin was swiftly apprehended, while Clayton was pronounced dead at a hospital, as reported by the Alabama Reflector.

Evidence and eyewitness against Keith Edmun Gavin

Two eyewitnesses, including Gavin's cousin who worked for the Illinois Department of Corrections, positively identified Gavin as the shooter.

In their testimony, the cousin recalled observing Gavin firing shots at the driver of the van while they were traveling to Centre.

Furthermore, testimony revealed that Gavin fired shots at an investigator as he attempted to flee the scene.

The slaying occurred shortly after Gavin's release on parole from an Illinois prison, where he had served 17 years of a 34-year sentence for murder.

Despite his conviction, Gavin's appeals in both state and federal courts were unsuccessful.

The US Supreme Court declined to review his case in 2005 and again in 2017.

In 2016, Gavin submitted a new appeal claiming jury misconduct and inadequate legal representation during the trial's penalty phase.

Despite a federal judge in Birmingham upholding the state court's decision denying Gavin's claim of jury misconduct in 2020, the judge ruled in Gavin's favor regarding the assertion of ineffective counsel, as reported by AL.com.

The judge concluded that Gavin's initial attorneys neglected to sufficiently pursue all accessible mitigating evidence, including Gavin's upbringing in a gang-infested housing project in Chicago and the repercussions of his imprisonment in Illinois.

Nonetheless, the state appealed this ruling, and a three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently determined that Alabama's Court of Criminal Appeals had reasonably concluded that Gavin did not establish any prejudice resulting from his lawyers' deficiencies.

Consequently, the previous decision regarding ineffective counsel was reversed.

Who is scheduled to be executed after Gavin in Alabama?

Keith Gavin will be Alabama's third execution this year. Kenneth Smith was executed on January 25, and Jamie Ray Mills is scheduled for May 30 as per the Montgomery Advertiser.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey set the execution date for Jamie Ray Mills on Wednesday. Mills was convicted of killing Vera and Floyd Hill in 2004.

The execution will take place from 12:00 am. on Thursday, May 30, to 6:00 am on Friday, May 31. It will also be done through lethal injection.

Mills, now 50, was convicted of three counts of capital murder in August 2007. His execution will mark Alabama's second this year, following Kenneth Smith's execution by nitrogen hypoxia on January 25.