Texas executed Steven Nelson by deadly injection on Wednesday for the 2011 homicide of a beloved younger pastor.
Nelson, who was pronounced lifeless at 6:50 p.m. CT, was convicted of killing the Rev. Clint Dobson at NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, simply west of Dallas.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, who was Nelson’s non secular adviser and was within the demise chamber, stated that it “took perpetually” for Nelson to be declared lifeless, including at a information convention that “he fought to the very finish.”
Hood stated that Nelson protested his execution by refusing to stroll to the van that transferred him to the Huntsville Unit, the place the state’s execution chamber is situated. Hood stated that there have been bandages on Nelson’s arms that weren’t there when he visited Nelson earlier within the day.
Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Division of Prison Justice − the company that carries out executions − stated she didn’t have any details about Nelson’s resistance, although she stated he walked into the chamber. She didn’t instantly reply to a query in regards to the bandages.
Nelson has acknowledged robbing NorthPointe Baptist Church however has all the time stated he did not kill Dobson, as a substitute pointing the finger at two accomplices.
“As a household, we now have chosen to take this present day to deal with the good reminiscences we now have of Clint moderately than giving time to his killer,” members of the Dobson household stated in an announcement to USA TODAY. “Steven Nelson perpetually modified our lives, however he has by no means occupied our minds.”
Nelson’s execution is the second within the U.S. this 12 months and the primary in Texas in 2025. The state is about to execute one other man subsequent week on Feb. 13, the identical day as one other execution in Florida.
What had been Steven Nelson’s final phrases?
Hood stated that one in every of Nelson’s remaining acts was, “adamantly professing how a lot he loves” his spouse, who was among the many witnesses to the execution.
“I’ll all the time love you regardless of … our love is uncontrollable,” Nelson informed her, based on the Texas Division of Prison Justice. “I’m at peace, I’m able to be at house. Let’s journey, Warden.”
Noa Dubois and Steven Nelson pose for an image on the day they had been married, Dec. 4, 2024, in Livingston, Texas.
Clemency activists make final stand
Hood and Nelson’s spouse, Noa Dubois, held a vigil for Nelson on Tuesday evening and hours earlier than the execution made a remaining plea for mercy. Dubois and Nelson married final 12 months after assembly by an inmate letter-writing program in 2020.
In its assertion the household rebuffed the clemency push.
“We’re conscious of his new spouse and the way a few of her current actions have compounded the anguish brought on by her husband’s crimes,” the household stated within the assertion.
When requested by the Austin American-Statesman − part of the USA TODAY Community − what her life will likely be like after her husband is gone, Dubois stated, “It will be very exhausting.”
Hood stated on the press convention that Nelson informed him within the chamber that his efforts to avoid wasting his life weren’t in useless.
“Jeff you did not fail as a result of I had the need to struggle,” Nelson stated, based on Hood.
Anti-death penalty activist Rev. Jeff Hood, of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Noa Dubois, of Los Angeles, the spouse of demise row inmate Steven Nelson, on the Capitol Wednesday January 15, 2025.
What’s Steven Nelson convicted of?
Dobson, who was simply 28 years previous, was crushed and suffocated whereas church secretary Judy Elliot was severely crushed however survived, based on courtroom information.
Nelson admitted to stealing Elliot’s automotive, laptop computer, and bank cards, which he used to purchase fuel, garments and jewellery. Nelson maintains that two accomplices dedicated the homicide, testifying that he went into the church 5 minutes after they did to seek out the victims on the ground.
Prosecutors argued that Nelson acted alone, and investigators discovered DNA from each Dobson and Elliot on Nelson’s shoe. Nelson’s attorneys argued that one in every of his accomplices had accidents that had been per the assault and later, his clemency legal professionals questioned the validity of the alibis given by the alleged accomplices.
A jury convicted Nelson of homicide.
The pastor’s younger widow, Laura Dobson, sobbed on the stand throughout Nelson’s trial, saying that she and her husband had been wanting ahead to the life they needed to construct, based on the Forth Value Star Telegram.
“We all the time tried to see the nice in folks,” she stated. “I did not know this a lot evil existed on the planet.”
She informed Dobson: “After this trial is over, nobody will wish to keep in mind you, however folks will most undoubtedly keep in mind Clint.”
Dying row inmate Steven Nelson is seen on the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas in a photograph taken by his spouse Noa Dubois.
Who was Clint Dobson?
Dobson had a dream for his Texas church: to fill it with younger households and kids and unfold the gospel that had modified the course of his personal life on the age of 8.
“I hope that my ministry reaches folks of all backgrounds and statuses,” Dobson wrote whereas he was a scholar at Baylor College in Waco, Texas, based on his household. “I want to supply hope, and I pray to be a part of peace within the lives of these locally round me.”
Robert Creech, a professor of Christian ministries at Baylor, met Dobson when the long run pastor was simply 4 years previous. On the time, Creech was the pastor at Dobson’s household church, College Baptist in Houston, and remembers Dobson properly, based on a tribute Creech wrote in regards to the younger man.
“He invested himself in his church as a baby and as a youngster, participating in ministry and rising as a disciple,” Creech recalled.
Of their assertion to USA TODAY, Dobson’s household stated that “Clint beloved folks, and he beloved God.”
“He was all the time excited by the chance to unite the 2,” they stated. “A believer in social justice, he led a various congregation and labored to guarantee that everybody felt comfy and welcome at NorthPointe.”
Wiles stated that the church that Dobson left behind now has a faculty and has grown to meet Dobson’s dream.
“This college is crammed with youngsters each single day,” Wiles stated. “Meaning this place is crammed with life. Effectively, that’s what the gospel brings and Clint’s legacy lives.”
Another execution this week, two on similar day subsequent
On Thursday Demetrius Frazier is scheduled to turn into the fourth inmate executed by nitrogen fuel within the U.S. since Alabama started utilizing the controversial technique final 12 months. Hood was a non secular advisor to Kenneth Eugene Smith and witnessed the state’s first nitrogen fuel execution in January 2024. “I had by no means seen one thing so violent,” Hood wrote in an opinion column for USA TODAY after the execution.
Texas is scheduled to execute Richard Tabler on Feb. 13. for a spree killing in 2004 that included two back-to-back double murders. Additionally on Feb. 13, Florida is about to execute James Ford within the brutal killings of a husband and spouse in entrance of their 22-month-old daughter.
There are at present 177 folks on demise row in Texas, based on the Dying Penalty Info Middle. The state has executed 582 folks since 1976.
This story has been up to date with new data
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Steven Nelson executed in Texas for 2011 homicide of younger pastor