Muslim death row inmate’s final words as he’s executed by lethal injection after making unusual request

The final words of an Alabama inmate executed for the 1998 murder of a father of seven have been revealed after he was unusually asked not to undergo an autopsy.

Keith Edmund Gavin, 64, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. Thursday after lethal injection — the primary execution method in the southern state — at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility, authorities said.

Gavin, the third inmate executed in the state this year and the 10th in the country, said, “I love my family,” just before the anesthetic was injected.

The Muslim prisoner followed with a few unintelligible words as he appeared to pray with his spiritual advisor beside him.

He raised a finger of both hands, which appeared to be an Islamic gesture meaning: Allah is the only God.

William Clinton Clayton Jr., who went by Bill, was fatally shot by Gavin while withdrawing money from an ATM in the city center. He had just gotten off work and was getting money to take his wife out to dinner

The death row inmate was convicted of first-degree murder for the March 6, 1998, shooting death of delivery driver William Clinton Clayton Jr., 68, when he stopped to withdraw money from an ATM in the city’s downtown area.

According to testimony at trial, Clayton, who also went by Bill, had just gotten off work and was earning money to go out to dinner with his wife.

After Gavin was given the death penalty, he tried for years to appeal the sentence, but was never successful.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said, “Today, justice was finally served for Mr. Clayton’s loved ones. I pray for Mr. Clayton’s family and friends who continue to mourn his loss, all these years later.”

At around 6:19 p.m., a prison guard performed a consciousness check — calling his name, brushing his eyelids and squeezing his arms — which is done before the last two drugs are administered. Shortly after, his breathing stopped.

Before his execution, Gavin asked the state not to perform an autopsy on his body because of his devout Muslim faith.

Although it is customary in the state of Alabama to perform an autopsy after an execution, Gavin has requested through his attorney that the procedure be banned after his death for religious reasons.

Before his execution, Gavin asked the state not to perform an autopsy on his body because of his devout Muslim faith. On Friday, the Alabama prison system agreed not to perform an autopsy on him. (Photo: William C. Holman Correctional Facility)

On Friday, the Alabama prison system agreed not to perform an autopsy on him.

“Mr. Gavin is a devout Muslim. His religion teaches that the human body is a sacred temple that must be preserved intact,” his lawyers previously wrote.

‘Therefore, Mr. Gavin sincerely believes that an autopsy would desecrate his body and violate the sanctity of keeping his human body intact.

‘Based on his faith, Mr. Gavin is strongly opposed to an autopsy on his body after his execution.’

The death penalty is normally only used for particularly serious crimes in which the victim is killed. However, each state can determine under which specific circumstances a murder qualifies for the death penalty.

At the time of the attempted robbery more than two decades ago, Gavin was on probation in Illinois after serving 17 of a 34-year sentence for murder, court documents show.

Prosecutors say he shot Clayton, pushed him into the passenger seat of the van he was driving and then drove away.

An officer said he chased the van and its driver, a man he later identified as Gavin. The driver shot him and then ran off into the woods.

A jury convicted Gavin of first-degree murder and voted 10-2 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed. Most states now require a jury to agree unanimously to impose a death sentence.

Gavin, the third inmate executed in the state this year and the 10th in the nation, said, “I love my family,” just before the anesthetic was injected. (Image: File photo of Alabama’s lethal injection chamber)

In 2020, a federal judge ruled that Gavin did not have a proper defense attorney during his sentencing hearing because his original attorneys failed to provide mitigating factors for Gavin’s violent and abusive childhood in Chicago.

The inmate grew up in a “gang-infested housing project in Chicago,” where he lived “in overcrowded housing that was in poor condition,” U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre said.

Bowdre added that Gavin was “surrounded by drug activity, crime, violence and rioting.”

A federal appeals court subsequently overturned the decision, leaving the death penalty in place.

“There is no doubt about Gavin’s guilt for this heinous offense,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Thursday.

Clayton, a Korean War veteran, was a father of seven and continued to work after retiring from a railroad company, according to his obituary published in The Birmingham News.

As of January 2024, there are 24 states that have the death penalty and 23 that do not — while another three states have a moratorium on it

His son, Matthew Clayton, 54, who witnessed the execution, said his late father was a “kind of American” who sometimes worked two jobs to support his family.

‘He was a good man. He left behind children and a wife who miss him, an extended family who mourn his loss.

“It is deeply regrettable that his last years were taken from him in such a cruel way,” said Matthew, who added that his father “did not deserve to die this way.”

Matthew told Today in the US that he remembers his father as a “fairly big man” who was also “a bit of a gentle giant.”

He said his mother, now 94, lives independently and is “very healthy and very vital.”

“It’s really a blessing that she’s been around for so long, especially since my dad passed away at a young age,” Matthew said.