Steven Nelson's execution has been scheduled, 13 years after he was sentenced to death for the grisly murder of Texas Rev.
Nelson was convicted of suffocating Clint Dobson in March 2011, when the pastor was just 28 years old. According to The Associated Press, Nelson also brutally assaulted Dobson's 69-year-old secretary, Judy Elliott, leaving her with memory problems and a broken jaw.
Despite evidence, including blood from both victims on Nelson’s shoes and belt studs found at the crime scene, Nelson maintained his innocence, blaming two friends for the crime and claiming he was merely a lookout.
Investigators, however, stated that the two other men had alibis; one was 30 miles away at the time of the incident, as indicated by phone records, and the other was in a chemistry class.
The evidence against Nelson was further substantiated by surveillance footage showing him driving Elliott's car and using her credit cards.
Nelson appealed his conviction, arguing that his defense team failed to effectively challenge the alibis of the other suspects, but both his appeals and his request for a stay of execution were denied. Recently, attorneys sought intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court in Nelson's case.
In an interview with NewsNation, when asked what he would say to the church secretary who survived, Nelson expressed remorse, stating, “I would apologize for the role that I played even though I was not the person who assaulted her. It still hurts to this day that I couldn't do nothing at the time. I keep thinking, what if that was one of my family members.”
Nelson expressed his desire to reconcile with Dobson’s family, explassing that his attempts to reach out were blocked by the church.
“I wrote a letter to them, but the church did not [accept] the letter. That really hurt me, you know, because you are an organization of Christ and there's always redemption and a second chance,” he argued. “People do deserve second chances. I'm not a lost cause. I'm not beyond help. I'm not broken.”
Despite facing accusations for another murder while incarcerated, Nelson insists that he deserves a second chance.
Dennis R. Wiles, the pastor of First Baptist Arlington, the parent church of Northpointe Baptist Church, which has since closed, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Christian Post on Wednesday. In a statement following Nelson's death sentence in 2012, Wiles expressed respectful support for the court's decision.
