Texas death row inmateâs final words before execution are revealed
Steven Lawayane Nelson was the second person executed in the US in 2025
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A man in Texas convicted of beating and suffocating a pastor during a church robbery was executed in Huntsville on Wednesday evening, and used his last words to tell his wife he loved her.
The execution was the second this year in the U.S. and the first of four scheduled in Texas over the next three months, according to the Associated Press.
Steven Lawayane Nelson, 37, was executed via lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:50pm CST at the Texas state penitentiary in Huntsville.
In 2011, Nelson killed Reverend Clint Dobson, 28, who was a pastor at NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. The church's secretary, Judy Elliott, 67, was injured after Nelson severely beat her, but she survived.
According to the AP, shortly before he was injected, Nelson told his wife multiple times through a window that he loved her and was thankful and grateful for her.
âIâm not scared. Iâm at peace,â Nelson said. âLetâs ride, Warden.â
After the injection was given to him, Nelson attempted to speak and said the word âloveâ before he reportedly appeared to try to hold his breath. He was pronounced dead 24 minutes after the injection was administered.
The first execution in the U.S. this year occurred on Friday in South Carolina. Marion Bowman Jr also died by lethal injection. He was sentenced to death after he was convicted of shooting and killing a friend. Police found the victim's body in a burned out car in 2001.
Following Nelson's execution on Wednesday, the family of Dobson released a statement.
Clint Dobson, a pastor at NorthPointe Baptist Church in north Arlington, was killed in his office at the church by Steven Nelson, whom a jury in October 2012 found guilty of capital murder. (Facebook )âAs 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,â the statement said. âSteven Nelson forever changed our lives, but he has never occupied our minds. ... We miss Clint every day. We miss his laughter and his wit, his advice and his love for us.â
Judy Elliottâs son also issued a statement following Nelson's execution, and said his family forgave him.
âI hope that today as Mr. Nelson took his last breath that he was greeted by the same loving and gracious Savior that has stood by us through all we have been a part of," the statement said. âMr. Nelson, we forgive you and hope to see you when we are called home from here.â
During his trial, Nelson argued that he only had been brought along as a lookout and that two other men allegedly involved in the robbery killed the pastor.
Investigators found physical evidence at the scene and on Nelson's person â including blood on his sneakers matching that of the victims â linking him to the scene. The men he blamed the death on were reportedly cleared after their alibis checked out.
Texas has three other executions scheduled through the end of April. The first is scheduled for February 13 of Richard Lee Taler, who shot and killed a strip club manager and their friend in 2004.
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