Alabama executes death row inmate for 1998 murder of delivery driver

July 18 (UPI) -- Convicted murderer Keith Edmund Gavin was executed by lethal injection Thursday night, marking the third execution Alabama has carried out this year.

Gavin, 64, was convicted on two counts of capital murder for fatally shooting William Clayton Jr. and one count of attempted murder for firing on a law enforcement officer in 1998. The murder offenses were elevated to capital charges because the shooting happened in the course of a first-degree robbery and Gavin was out on parole for a previous murder committed within the last 20 years.

Attorney General Steve Marshall had cleared the execution to commence at 6:15 p.m. CT at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Ala., located about 50 miles northeast of Mobile.

Gavin was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.

"Tonight, Keith Gavin was executed by lethal injection after having been convicted by a jury of his peers for the murder of William Clinton Clayton Jr. in Centre, Ala.," Marshall said in a statement announcing that Gavin's sentence had been executed.

The Alabama Department of Corrections told UPI in an emailed statement that Gavin received three visitors on Wednesday and four on Thursday.

On the day of his death, he refused breakfast, ate lunch and a few snacks, but refused his final meal.

He made no special requests, the department said.

On March 6, 1998, Clayton was finishing work as a contract delivery driver and was getting money at an ATM in downtown Center to take his wife out for the evening when Gavin approached him, authorities said.

Dewayne Meeks, Gavin's cousin who was with him at the time of the crime, testified that Gavin had opened the door of Clayton's van and shot him twice before pushing him into the passenger's seat and driving away.

An investigator with the District Attorney's Office of the Ninth Judicial Circuit then spotted the van and pursued. Gavin stopped the stolen vehicle in the middle of an intersection, turned and fired on the officer before fleeing into nearby woods.

Clayton was found barely alive in the van and was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

With the use of a search dog, authorities found Gavin in a creek. As he attempted to flee, an officer fired a warning shot into the air. Gavin was then taken into police custody.

In 1999, a jury voted 10-2 to recommend Gavin for execution, and the trial court accepted the jury's decision.

"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," Marshall said.

"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 had filed a motion Friday to stay his execution, but it was denied Tuesday. He then filed a handwritten appeal to the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the state's dismissal.

With about 30 minutes before Gavin was scheduled die, the justices rejected his request.

The state did oblige Gavin's request to not have an autopsy. He argued in a lawsuit that it would conflict with his Muslim faith, which requires his body to be kept intact after his death.

Gov. Kay Ivey in April set Gavin's execution for between midnight on Thursday and 6 a.m. Friday. The extended time frame was because Alabama has botched some lethal injections in the past.

Problems have arisen because administrators struggled to find veins, intravenous lines clogged with the deadly chemicals, and drugs cause inmates to have violent reactions. There also has been a shortage of the drugs used in lethal injections.

Alabama recently authorized the use of nitrogen gas in executions and, so far, has been the only state to use the new method.

Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first inmate to be executed by nitrogen asphyxiation in January, despite the United Nations Human Rights Commission saying the method was untested and could subject inmates to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture."

Jamie Ray Mills was Alabama's second execution when he died by lethal injection in May. The state is set to execute Alan Eugene Miller by nitrogen gas in September.