Keith Edmund Gavin, a man who was convicted of killing a delivery driver during a robbery in 1998, was executed in Alabama by chemical injection on July 18, 2024. Gavin was convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of courier service driver William Clayton Jr. At the time of the murder, Gavin was on parole in Illinois after serving 17 years of a 34-year sentence for a different murder.
Gavin’s execution took place at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southwest Alabama. The victim, William Clayton Jr., was a retired railroad worker and Korean War veteran. He was a father of seven and still working to support his family. The execution was witnessed by Matthew Clayton, who described his father as a “slice of Americana” and a good man who did not deserve to die in such a brutal way.
During the execution, Gavin made a final statement expressing love for his family. He appeared to be praying, as his spiritual advisor stood by his side. The sedative administered caused Gavin to lose consciousness, and he passed away shortly thereafter. Prosecutors said that Gavin shot Clayton during the robbery, then fled the scene in Clayton’s van. A law enforcement officer testified that Gavin shot at him during a pursuit before running into the woods.
Gavin’s execution was the 10th in the U.S. this year and the third in Alabama. The Death Penalty Information Center reported that Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Missouri had also carried out executions in 2024. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall stated that there was no doubt about Gavin’s guilt in the crime for which he was executed.
In 2020, a federal judge ruled that Gavin had received ineffective counsel during his sentencing hearing due to a lack of presentation of mitigating evidence about his violent and abusive childhood in Chicago. However, a federal appeals court later overturned this decision, allowing the death sentence to stand. Gavin grew up in a gang-infested housing project in Chicago, surrounded by crime, violence, and drug activity.
The execution of Keith Edmund Gavin brought closure to the family of William Clayton Jr. and marked the end of a long legal battle. The state of Alabama agreed not to perform an autopsy on Gavin after his execution, as it would have violated his religious beliefs. Despite the controversy surrounding the death penalty, Gavin’s execution proceeded according to the law.
