Alabama court authorizes executing a man convicted of killing a delivery driver

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court on Wednesday authorized the execution of a man convicted of killing a delivery driver who stopped at an ATM.

Justices granted the Alabama attorney general’s request to authorize an execution date for Keith Edmund Gavin, 64. Gov. Kay Ivey will set the day of the execution, which will be carried out by lethal injection.

Gavin was convicted of capital murder for the 1998 shooting death of William Clinton Clayton, Jr. in Cherokee County. Prosecutors said Clayton, a delivery driver, stopped at an ATM in downtown Centre for money to take his wife to dinner. A jury voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty for Gavin. The trial court accepted the jury’s recommendation.

Gavin’s attorney had asked the court not to authorize the execution, arguing the state was moving Gavin to the “front of the line” ahead of other inmates who had exhausted their appeals.

Keith Gavin