Death Row inmate made uncommon request for what will happen after his execution
A Death Row inmate made a rare request about what will happen to his body following his execution.
American man Keith Edmund Gavin was convicted of shooting and killing a delivery driver named William Clayton Jr. in a robbery attempt in 1998, and has been on Death Row ever since.
Gavin was pronounced dead at 6:32 local time on Thursday, 18 July, after receiving the lethal injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southwest Alabama, according to authorities.
The crime that sent him to Death Row
Clayton was a courier service driver, having driven to an ATM in the centre of town after work on the evening of 6 March 1998, planning to withdraw money to take his wife out for a meal, according to a court summary.
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It is said by prosecutors that Gavin shot William Clayton Jr. during the robbery, putting him into the passenger's seat of the van Clayton had been driving, before getting in and driving away.
An officer said that he was shot at by Gavin before the suspect, who was on parole, ran into the woods.
At the time, he was serving 17 years of a 34-year sentence for murder.
The Alabama attorney general's office wrote a request for an execution date for Gavin, stating: "There is no doubt about Gavin's guilt or the seriousness of his crime."
Convicted of capital murder
Gavin was convicted of capital murder, and was voted 10-2 by the jury to recommend a death sentence, though most states today require a jury to be unanimous in their decision to give a death sentence.
Despite this, a federal judge said in 2020 that Gavin's original lawyers hadn't provided more evidence of the defendant's violent and abusive childhood, as US District Judge Karon O Bowdre wrote that he grew up in a 'gang-infested housing project in Chicago, living in overcrowded houses that were in poor condition, where he was surrounded by drug activity, crime, violence, and riots.'
However, federal appeals court allowed the original sentence to stand, so there was no avoiding it.
A final request ahead of his death
Leading up to his execution though, Gavin requested that the Alabama prison forgo an autopsy on his body due to his religious beliefs.
Gavin was a devout Muslim, and even filed a lawsuit in the lead-up to his execution to stop plans for an autopsy, as this is the typical procedure for executed inmates in the US state.
Gavin's attorney previously wrote: "Mr. Gavin is a devout Muslim. His religion teaches that the human body is a sacred temple, which must be kept whole,'
"As a result, 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 fiercely opposed to an autopsy being performed on his body after his execution."
Today (19 July), the Alabama prison system agreed to forgo an autopsy on Gavin's body, settling the complaint.
A failed request for stay of execution
As well as this, Gavin had written a request for a stay of execution, and that the lethal injection be stopped 'for the sake of life and limb', which was rejected.
The third inmate executed in Alabama this year, and the 10th in the country, stated his last words before being injected with the sedative: "I love my family".
He then followed this with a few words that weren't audible, as he prayed with his spiritual advisor next to him, with a finger on each hand - a gesture that means 'Allah is the only God'.
Other states that have conducted executions in 2024 are Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Missouri, while Alabama also carried out the USA's first execution by nitrogen gas.
Joshua Nair