HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas man who was found guilty of murdering a pastor during a church robbery has been executed, marking the second execution in the United States this year, as well as the first of four planned executions in Texas within the upcoming months.
Steven Lawayne Nelson, aged 37, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CST at the Huntsville state penitentiary. He had been convicted for the 2011 murder of Rev. Clint Dobson, a 28-year-old pastor who was assaulted, strangled, and suffocated with a plastic bag inside NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington. The church secretary, Judy Elliott, aged 67, endured severe injuries but survived the attack.
Just before the administration of the lethal injection began, Nelson expressed his love and gratitude to his wife, Helene Noa Dubois, who observed from a nearby window. “It is what it is,” he said, encouraging her to “enjoy life”. In a poignant moment, Dubois raised a white service dog she had brought into the witness area for comfort.
“I’m not scared. I’m at peace,” Nelson stated. As the injection started with the sedative pentobarbital, he asked Dubois, who had recently married him while he was incarcerated, to let him “go to sleep.” The drug quickly affected him, as he uttered the word “Love,” gasped a couple of times, and exhibited signs of distress before becoming still. He was confirmed dead 24 minutes later.
This marked the first execution of a Texas death row inmate since Robert Roberson’s execution was deferred based on a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, which was scheduled for October 17, 2024. South Carolina also conducted the nation’s first execution of 2025 recently when Marion Bowman Jr. received a lethal injection for his deadly crime from 2001.
Family members of the victims opted not to speak with the press but did issue statements earlier on the day of the execution. “As a family, we have chosen to take this day to focus on the great memories we have of Clint rather than giving time to his killer,” shared Dobson’s family. “Steven Nelson changed our lives, but he has never occupied our minds. … We miss Clint every day, his laughter, wit, advice, and love for us.”
Bradley Elliott, whose mother Judy survived the attack, stated, “I hope that today as Mr. Nelson took his last breath, he was greeted by the same loving and gracious Savior that has stood by us through everything we have been a part of.” He also extended forgiveness to Nelson, expressing hope to see him in the afterlife.
Nelson was a high school dropout with a troubled past marked by a string of legal issues beginning at the young age of six. He had maintained that he acted merely as a lookout during the robbery and attributed blame to two accomplices for the pastor’s death.
During the trial, Nelson claimed that he waited outside the church for approximately 25 minutes before entering and discovering that Dobson and the secretary had been attacked; he insisted that Dobson was still alive at that time. He admitted to taking Dobson’s laptop and receiving Elliott’s credit cards and car keys from one of the alleged accomplices.
The victims were discovered by Judy Elliott’s husband, who served as the church’s part-time music minister and initially failed to recognize her due to the severity of her injuries.
Evidence presented at trial implicated Nelson directly; his fingerprints and pieces of his belt were located at the crime scene, along with blood from the victims on his sneakers. Surveillance footage also captured him using Elliott’s car and her credit cards. The two defendants he attempted to blame for the crime had thorough alibis.
Nelson’s legal team made appeals based on claims of inadequate legal representation during his trial and sentencing, arguing that his attorneys did not effectively challenge the alibis of the other suspects or present evidence of his troubled upbringing in Oklahoma and Texas.
While awaiting trial, Nelson was indicted in the death of another inmate in jail but was never tried for that charge after receiving his guilty verdict and death sentence.
All appeals filed by Nelson were dismissed by both state and federal judges. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to grant a stay of execution on January 28, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined a similar request just hours before the execution commenced.
Looking ahead, three additional executions are planned in Texas before the conclusion of April, with the first scheduled for February 13. Richard Lee Tabler, who was convicted in the 2004 murders of a strip club manager and a friend, is set to face execution next.
