From: davidc@wa-wd.com   
      
   Steven Lawayne Nelson, 37, was executed by lethal injection on 5   
   February 2025 in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a   
   pastor in his office.   
      
   On Thursday, 3 March 2011, Debra Jenkins went to North Pointe Baptist   
   Church in Hurst at about 12:40 p.m. According to her testimony, she   
   saw cars belonging to the pastor, Clint Dobson, and secretary, Judy   
   Elliot, in the parking lot. She rang the doorbell and phoned the   
   office, but received no answer. After about five minutes, she left.   
   She returned about fifteen minutes later and saw that Elliot's   
   Mitsubishi Galant was no longer in the parking lot.   
      
   At 1:00 p.m., Suzanne Richards arrived for a meeting with Dobson. His   
   car was in the parking lot, but Elliot's was not. Richards waited for   
   half an hour, ringing the doorbell, calling, and texting Dobson,   
   unable to reach him.   
      
   Dobson's wife, Laura, called Jake Turner, the music minister, because   
   she had been unable to reach her husband by phone. Turner agreed to go   
   to the church. He also phoned Elliot's husband, John. Mr. Elliot   
   arrived first. He used his passcode to enter and called out Dobson's   
   name. He saw Dobson's office in disarray and saw a severely beaten   
   woman, who he did not immediately recognize as his wife, lying on the   
   ground. He did not notice Dobson lying on the other side of the desk.   
   He called the police.   
      
   Arlington police officer Jesse Parish responded. He found Judy Elliot,   
   67, lying on her back with her hands bound behind her. John Elliot   
   recognized her by her clothing. Parish found Dobson, 28, lying face up   
   with his hands bound behind his back and a bloody plastic bag covering   
   his head and sucked into his mouth. He removed the bag and saw that   
   Dobson was dead. Parish noted that there were signs of a struggle.   
      
   Elliot was taken in the hospital in critical condition. She had   
   traumatic injuries to her face, head, arms, legs, and back and   
   internal bleeding in her brain. She received extensive surgery to   
   repair her face. She was still physicially and mentally impaired at   
   the time of Nelson's trial.   
      
   The medical examiner testified that Dobson was hit on the forehead   
   twice by a blunt object, possibly the computer monitor stand in his   
   office, and that he struck the back of his head as he fell. His hands   
   were bound and his head bagged after he lost consciousness. He died of   
   suffocation.   
      
   At 1:24 p.m., Nelson, then 23, texted Whitley Daniels. She told Nelson   
   to bring her a cigar. After stopping at his apartment, Nelson drove   
   Elliot's car to a Tire King store, where he sold Dobson's laptop and   
   case out of the trunk to a customer. He then drove to a Tetco   
   convenience store, where he used Elliot's credit card to buy gas, a   
   drink, and a cigar. Anthony Springs and his girlfriend then met him at   
   the Tetco. When Nelson attempted to buy gas for Springs's girlfriend's   
   car, the card was declined. Nelson and Springs then took Elliot's car   
   to the apartment of Claude Jefferson and his aunt, Brittany Bursey.   
      
   Daniels testified that Nelson and Springs arrived at her house with   
   the cigar some time after 3:00 p.m. They soon left, then Nelson   
   returned alone 15 or 20 minutes later. Nelson asked Daniels to go to   
   the mall and use the credit cards with her identification. Daniels   
   declined to do so, and Nelson left.   
      
   Nelson next went to The Parks at Arlington mall. Using Elliot's credit   
   cards, he purchased shoes, a t-shirt, and costume jewelry. He   
   subsequently returned with two companions to the shoe store, but the   
   credit card was declined.   
      
   Nelson then went to Bursey's apartment. He was wearing the clothing   
   and jewelry he bought at the mall. While taking pills and smoking, he   
   told Bursey that he stole the Galant from a pastor. He left the   
   apartment the next morning.   
      
   At the time of Dobson's murder, Nelson was on probation for assaulting   
   his girlfriend. He failed to report to his probation officer that day.   
      
   Arlington police obtained a warrant and arrested Nelson at the   
   apartment of Tracey Nixon on 5 March. He was wearing the shoes and   
   some of the jewelry he bought with Elliot's stolen credit cards. A   
   belt he was wearing was missing some white metal studs that matched   
   some objects that were found on and around Dobson's body. Officers   
   also obtained a search warrant for Nelson's apartment. They recovered   
   a pair of shoes that appeared to match a bloody footprint left at the   
   murder scene, receipts and price tags from stores at The Parks at   
   Arlington dated 3 March, and a jersey he was seen wearing on mall   
   surveillance videos that day.   
      
   DNA from the two victims was found in a stain on the top of Nelson's   
   shoe. His fingerprints were lifted from an object on Dobson's desk.   
      
   Nelson testified at his trial. He stated that on the night before and   
   morning of the murder, he and three companions were looking for people   
   to rob. He went home for a while, then later met up with Anthony   
   Springs and Claude Jefferson. They went to the church. Nelson   
   testified that they knew people were inside and that he agreed to rob   
   them, but he did not intend for anyone to get hurt. He waited outside   
   while Springs and Jefferson went in. Twenty-five minutes later, he   
   went inside and found the two victims on the ground, bleeding from the   
   backs of their heads, but alive. He then took Dobson's laptop computer   
   and case. Springs gave him Elliot's keys and credit cards. He went   
   outside and waited in Elliot's car for a while, then returned inside.   
   By that time, Dobson was dead. He returned to Elliot's car. He   
   admitted to driving Elliot's car and using her credit cards at the   
   convenience store and mall.   
      
   The state presented witnesses who testified that at the time of the   
   murder, Springs was with his girlfriend in Venus, 45 minutes away, and   
   Jefferson was in class at the University of Texas.   
      
   Nelson first got in trouble with the law as a 6-year-old in Oklahoma.   
   He was incarcerated as a juvenile there for felonies including   
   burglary. He ran away to Texas and continued to commit felonies   
   including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and burglary of a   
   habitation. He was committed to the Texas Youth Commission at age 14.   
   His original 9-month sentence turned into 3-1/2 years because of   
   repeated disciplinary infractions. As an adult, he had convictions for   
   theft, burlgary of a building, and assualt with a deadly weapon. He   
   served several sentences in state jail. In jail, he committed   
   infractions including assaulting guards and destroying property.   
      
   On 19 March 2012, while Nelson was in Tarrant County jail awaiting   
   trial for Dobson's murder, he killed Jonathon Holden, a mentally   
   challenged inmate, by strangling him with a blanket, reportedly   
      
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