Execution Report: Steven Nelson

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 to 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 because he muttered the word "nigger" under his breath. A witness reported that after the killing, Nelson did a "celebration dance" in the style of Chuck Berry, "where he hops on one foot and plays the guitar," using a broomstick as a prop guitar. He was then placed alone in a cell reserved for dangerous and violent inmates. Because of his death sentence for Dobson's murder, he was not charged with Holden's.

On 20 July, a few weeks before trial, Nelson flooded the toilet in his cell. While his cell was being decontaminated, he flooded the toilet his holding cell. While he was being returned to his cell, he fought the officers. He was placed in a restraint chair by eight officers.

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