Alabama Sets Execution Date for Man Convicted in 1998 ATM Murder

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has set an execution date for Keith Edmund Gavin, who was convicted in the 1998 killing of a delivery driver at an ATM in northeast Alabama.

On Thursday, April 25, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced that Keith Edmund Gavin, 64, will be executed by lethal injection within a 30-hour time frame beginning at 12 a.m. on July 18 and ending at 6 a.m. on July 19. This announcement came just a week after the state Supreme Court authorized the execution.

Gavin was convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of William Clayton Jr., which occurred on March 6, 1998, in the town of Centre. Clayton, a delivery driver, was withdrawing money from an ATM to take to his wife for dinner when Gavin shot him during an attempted robbery. After shooting Clayton, Gavin pushed him into his van and drove off in the stolen vehicle.

An investigator with the district attorney's office, who happened to be nearby when the shooting took place, began pursuing Gavin's van. Gavin stopped the van at one point and exited the vehicle to fire at the pursuing investigator before continuing his escape.

Gavin was apprehended shortly after, and Clayton was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Two eyewitnesses identified Gavin as the suspect in Clayton's murder: the investigator he shot at and Gavin's own cousin, who had been with him moments before the shooting.

In 1999, a jury reached a 10-2 verdict sentencing Gavin to death. This conviction marked the second time Gavin had been sentenced to prison for murder. He had previously served 17 years of a 34-year sentence in Illinois before being released on parole shortly before Clayton's death.

In addition to setting an execution date for Gavin, Alabama has also scheduled an execution date for Jamie Mills, who was convicted in the 2004 killing of a couple during a robbery. Mills will be put to death by lethal injection on May 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.