Getty image shows a bag of midazolam, which is a sedative utilized in Alabama’s lethal injection process.
Keith Edmund Gavin is set to be executed by the state through lethal injection sometime between midnight on July 16 and 6 a.m. on July 17. The reason for his execution is due to his conviction for the murder of William Clayton Jr. in 1998.
Governor Kay Ivey has recently announced that Gavin’s execution date has been set for the end of April. This marks the second time this year that the state will carry out a death sentence via lethal injection. Additionally, Alan Eugene Miller is scheduled to face execution by nitrogen gas in September.
Attorneys representing Gavin were contacted for comment but did not immediately respond. Messages were left for them.
In 1999, Gavin was found guilty by a jury of the murder of Clayton as per the court documents. The incident happened when Clayton was sitting in a delivery van outside the Regions Bank located in downtown Centre, Alabama. During the crime, Gavin also shot at a law enforcement officer and was charged with one count of attempted murder for the same.
As per the records presented in the court, Gavin was found guilty of a homicide in Cook County, Illinois, in 1982. He was released on parole after completing 17 years of a 34-year sentence before the incident occurred in Centre.
Gavin’s conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Despite this, both the state and U.S. Supreme Court chose not to review his direct appeal.
Gavin filed a petition for a Rule 32 hearing, where he presented his claim of having received ineffective legal assistance during his trial. He also argued that the jury had rushed to a decision in his case. Gavin contended that his legal team had failed to present a qualified expert who could have helped with his defense during the penalty phase. Furthermore, he claimed that his attorneys did not do a satisfactory job of calling witnesses who could have reduced the severity of his punishment.
The trial court, which was designated to hear the Rule 32 appeal, dismissed his appeal related to the jury. However, it did grant him a hearing to assess the validity of his claim of receiving ineffective assistance of counsel during the penalty phase of the initial trial.
According to court documents, the decision of the Rule 32 court was that Gavin’s counsel was not deficient in failing to present more mitigation evidence. The court concluded that it was the fault of Gavin and his family for not cooperating with his trial attorneys and the mitigation specialists. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld this decision.
The decision was upheld by a federal appeals court, and in 2023, the case was declined to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Death Penalty Information Center reports that Alabama is among the five states that have carried out executions this year, along with Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Alabama has been executing at least one person every year since 2016 and had executed six people in both 2009 and 2011.