Alabama has agreed not to perform an autopsy on a Muslim death row convict due to be executed on Thursday because it would violate his religious beliefs.
In an attempt to evade the autopsy, which Alabama typically performs after executions, Keith Edmund Gavin sued the state. The Alabama jail system announced that it had agreed to forego the autopsy.
Keith Edmund Gavin will not undergo an autopsy. According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, the attending funeral home will pick up his remains.
On July 18, Holman Prison in Atmore will execute Gavin, 64, by lethal injection.
The 1998 shooting death of William Clinton Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County, northeast Alabama, led to Gavin’s conviction for capital murder. Prosecutors said that Gavin shot Clayton, a delivery driver, after he stopped at an ATM to get money for dinner with his wife.
A jury voted 10-2 in favor of Gavin’s death sentence. The trial court followed the jury’s recommendation and sentenced him to death.
Gavin filed a lawsuit last month, asking a judge to prevent the state from conducting an autopsy following his execution. His attorneys did not immediately respond to an email requesting a comment.
“Mr. Gavin is a devout Muslim.” According to his religion, preserving the human body intact is a sacred temple. As a result, Mr. Gavin is convinced that an autopsy would degrade his body and violate the sacredness of preserving his human body intact. “Based on his faith, Mr. Gavin is vehemently opposed to having an autopsy performed on his body after his execution,” his attorneys stated in the lawsuit filed in Montgomery state court.
His attorneys said they filed the case because they were unable to have “meaningful discussions” with state officials about his request to avoid an autopsy. They also stated that the court filing is not an attempt to stay the execution, and that “Gavin does not anticipate any further appeals or requests for stays of his execution.”
William Califf, a spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, stated earlier this week that “we are working on a resolution” to the issue.
