Steven Lawayne Nelson was condemned for the 2011 killing of Rev. Clint Dobson, 28, who was beaten, strangled, and suffocated with a plastic bag inside NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington.

Steven Lawayne Nelson, a Texas man convicted of beating and suffocating a Dallas pastor in his church during a robbery over a decade ago, was executed Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Steven Lawayne Nelson has maintained that while he participated unknowingly in a violent church robbery, he did not harm anyone.

Steven Lawayne Nelson, 37, was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday evening for the 2011 death of the Rev. Clint Dobson and assault of his assistant Judy Elliott. Nelson, who was a native of Pontatoz,

Steven Lawayne Nelson maintained that he unknowingly participated in the violent church robbery but didn’t harm anyone. His execution was the state’s first for 2025.