Alabama Death Row inmate Keith Edmund Gavin says he doesn’t plan any last-minute appeals to stop his lethal injection execution next week, but he is asking state officials one thing: don’t conduct an autopsy on his body because of his religious beliefs.
“Mr. Gavin is a devout Muslim,” according to a lawsuit filed last month by his lawyers. “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.”
The lawsuit also states that Gavin is “especially concerned about the treatment of his body” in light of a flurry of lawsuits from the families of inmates who died in prison. Those lawsuits allege the bodies were returned with some or all of the organs missing.
Gavin’s lawsuit was filed June 14 in Montgomery Circuit Court after lawyers said they couldn’t get state officials “to reach a resolution regarding the handling of his remains.”
Gavin “does not anticipate any further appeals or requests for stays of his execution” and the autopsy argument is not an effort to block the execution, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit names as defendants those officials who could be involved in the autopsy process: Escambia County District Attorney Stephen Billy, Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm, William C. Holman warden Terry Raybon, Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences Director Angelo Della Manna, and Chief Medical Examiner for ADFS Edward Reedy.
Alabama law gives state officials discretion in ordering an autopsy, or waiving it, after an execution. Autopsies are routinely performed after executions.
“This law is intended to establish with certainty the cause of death in any such event,” according to the lawsuit. “After Mr. Gavin’s execution, there will be no question as to who or what caused Mr. Gavin’s death. The State will execute him by lethal injection.”
The state also has the option of doing a less “invasive” autopsy, the lawsuit states.
An official with the Alabama Attorney General’s office responded to AL.com Tuesday afternoon.
“We are working towards a resolution,” stated William Califf, deputy chief of staff of attorney general’s office, which represents defendants in the case.
Gavin, who was sentenced to death for the March 1998 murder of William Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County, is set to be executed July 18, but the timeframe could go into July 19 if there are delays. He is set to die by lethal injection at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, the only prison in the state with an execution chamber and where most death row inmates are housed.
In Gavin’s case, court records show he was on parole from Illinois when he was arrested in the shooting death of Clayton, a courier service driver who had parked his van to use an ATM machine in downtown Centre. He was finished with deliveries for the day and was stopping at Regions Bank to get money to take his wife to dinner.
Records stated that Gavin shot Clayton during an attempted robbery, pushed him into the passenger’s seat, and drove off in the van. With an investigator from the district attorney’s office in close pursuit, Gavin stopped the van, got out, shot at the investigator, and fled.
Gavin was soon apprehended, and Clayton was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Two eyewitnesses positively identified Gavin as the shooter, including his cousin, who was an employee of the Illinois Department of Corrections. The cousin testified about trips he and Gavin had made to Centre and on that day saw Gavin fire shots at the driver of the van. Gavin also fired shots at an investigator as he fled, according to testimony.
The slaying came just a few months after Gavin had been released on parole from prison in Illinois after serving 17 years of a 34-year sentence for murder.
Following his conviction, Gavin’s appeals failed in state and federal court. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review his case in 2005, 2017, and again in May 2023 based on various legal arguments.
AL.com reporter Ivana Hrynkiw contributed to this report.
More on Alabama Executions
- Alabama executes 64-year-old Keith Edmund Gavin for 1998 murder at ATM
- Alabama inmate asks U.S. Supreme Court in handwritten motion to block his execution
- Alabama Death Row inmate denied handwritten appeal to stop his execution
- Alabama won’t perform autopsy after devout Muslim inmate’s execution
- Alabama executes Jamie Mills for elderly couple’s 2004 beating deaths