Alabama death row inmate Keith Edmund Gavin executed in 1998 shooting death of father of 7

Alabama executed death row inmate Keith Edmund Gavin on Thursday, more than two decades after he fatally shot a father of seven who had stopped at an ATM to get money for a date night with his wife.

Gavin, 64, was executed by lethal injection at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, becoming the third inmate to be put to death by the state this year and the 10th in the nation. He died at 6:32 p.m., prison officials said.

An Alabama jury found Gavin guilty of murdering William Clinton Clayton Jr., whose youngest son described him as a hard-working "gentle giant" in an interview with USA TODAY this week.

Gavin had maintained his innocence since 1998, pointing the finger at a cousin who was at the crime scene with him.

Marty Roney, a reporter with the Montgomery Advertiser − part of the USA TODAY Network − was among the witnesses to the execution and said there were "no apparent difficulties" when the process began at 6:16 p.m. Gavin, whose eyes were closed, appeared to have taken his last breath at 6:20 p.m., Roney said.

"He appeared to show no physical reaction during the process," he said.

Here's what to know about Gavin's execution, his last meal, the case and the victim.

Keith Edmund Gavin's last meal, last words before death

Before Gavin died, his final words were: "I love my family," according to Roney said. Gavin, who was Muslim, also appeared to say several phrases in Arabic, he added.

The day before Gavin's execution, he refused breakfast, lunch and dinner but ate a bag of Ruffles cheddar sour cream potato chips, a bag of Lay’s plain potato chips and a chocolate Hersey Bar with almonds, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Gavin refused his final meal Thursday and did not make any special requests, the corrections department said. He did eat some ice cream and drank Mountain Dew as a snack.

Also Thursday, a spiritual advisor and his attorneys, Neil Conrad and Daniel Epstein, visited Gavin and were among the witnesses to the execution.

William Clinton Clayton Jr.'s murder

On March 6, 1998, Clayton was preparing to take his wife of 38 years out to dinner. The courier van driver stopped to withdraw money from an ATM at Regions Bank in Centre, about 85 miles northeast of Birmingham.

Around the same time, Gavin had driven to the region from Chicago with his cousin, Dewayne Meeks, arriving in downtown Centre just as Clayton went to the ATM, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.

While the men were stopped at an intersection near Regions Bank, Meeks testified that Gavin got out of the car, walked up to the driver's side of Clayton's van and fired two shots. Meeks, saying he was scared, then drove off in his car, while Gavin got in Clayton's van − with Clayton still in it and bleeding out − and followed Meeks, court records say.

A police pursuit of the van ensued but ended with Gavin's capture in the woods where police later discovered the murder weapon, a 40-caliber Glock pistol. An officer who heard about the shooting on his radio found Clayton "barely alive" in the van and he was pronounced dead shortly after at a hospital.

Meeks was arrested weeks later in Chicago on a murder charge in the case but prosecutors later dropped it. Gavin's conviction was in part due to Meeks' testimony.

Gavin, who had previously been convicted of murder in 1982, detailed in several appeals for a new murder trial that Meeks was the one who shot Clayton and not him. Meeks has never been convicted in the crime, and two other witnesses positively identified Gavin as the shooter.

Clayton's youngest son attends Gavin's execution

Matt Joseph Clayton, William Clayton's youngest child, told USA TODAY on Tuesday that he would be attending Gavin's execution to "represent his family" and recognize the efforts of the state officials who "brought Mr. Gavin to justice."

"No one wants to view an execution, so let's be clear about that," he said. "However, I cannot choose to not attend given the work that has been put forth."

Following the execution, Matt Clayton told USA TODAY that his dad was a "piece of Americana” and an “Alabama farm boy raised with rural values who had a tremendous work ethic.”

Matt Clayton said his mother, who is 94 years old, lives independently and is "very healthy and very vibrant." He did not say if she or his other siblings attended the execution on Thursday.

He called his father a "gentle giant" who worked hard to help provide for him and his six siblings.

"I don't think anyone anticipated that his life would end this way," said Matt Clayton, who was 28 when his father was gunned down. "Certainly not his family … It was quite shocking."

Alabama governor, attorney general comment after execution

Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement following Gavin's execution that she offered her "prayers for Mr. Clayton's family and friends who still mourn his loss all these years later.”

"After receiving a death sentence, Mr. Gavin appealed time after time for years to avoid justice, but failed at every attempt," she said. "Today, that justice was finally delivered for Mr. Clayton’s loved ones."

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement that "there is no doubt about Gavin’s guilt for this heinous offense."

Marshall called Clayton a "devoted father of seven who had just finished his workday and had stopped to get cash for a date with his wife."

"He was slain in cold blood by a repeat murderer," Marshall said. "I cannot imagine the shock, pain, and frustration that William’s family has endured over the last 26 years. I pray his family finds solace in the long-awaited justice by the State of Alabama."

Supreme Court denied Gavin’s last request to stop execution

Shortly before his execution, Gavin filed a handwritten motion with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting a stay in the execution based on a claim that he was denied due process because he was indigent and couldn't pay a filing fee.

The claim Gavin was referring to is from July 10.

"In this case justice should not be denied because filing fee’s (sic) wasn’t paid when it should had been waved (sic) because of petitioner’s indigent status,” Gavin wrote in his plea to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court denied Gavin's request for a stay of execution and agreed with a lower court that determined he had enough funds in his prison account to pay for filing fees.

When is the next execution?

The next execution is scheduled for Aug. 7, when Texas is expected to execute Arthur Lee Burton for the 1997 rape and killing of Nancy Adleman, a Houston woman found dead after never returning home from a jog.

Gavin's execution comes just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court halted the Texas execution of Ruben Gutierrez in the 1998 murder of an 85-year-old retired schoolteacher. The high court ruled Tuesday that a lower court must look at Gutierrez's arguments for DNA testing before his execution can be scheduled, if at all.