HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Texas executed Steven Nelson Feb. 5 for the 2011 murder of Clint Dobson, pastor of NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington.
Nelson was sentenced to die after a Tarrant County jury found him guilty of capital murder for beating and suffocating the 28-year-old pastor in his church office during a robbery attempt.
Church secretary Judy Elliott also was beaten severely and left for dead but survived the assault. She died last September.
Dobson earned his undergraduate degree from Baylor University and his Master of Divinity degree from Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary, where he was named 2008 Preacher of the Year.
No members of Dobson’s family witnessed Nelson’s execution, but the Dallas Morning News reported Elliott’s son was present.
Nelson’s wife Noa Dubois also attended the execution, and his spiritual adviser Jeff Hood was in the death chamber when Nelson received a lethal injection.
At the time of his trial and in the intervening years, Nelson admitted to the attempted robbery but claimed two other men involved in the crime killed Dobson and bludgeoned Elliott.
Physical evidence placed Nelson in proximity to Dobson and Elliott, and investigating officers found his fingerprints at the crime scene.
His death sentence was upheld after multiple appeals. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied his request for a stay of execution one week before he was put to death. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal hours before his execution.
“After years of legal battles, Steven Nelson was punished for his heinous crimes, and justice finally has been served,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a public statement released soon after Nelson’s execution.
“My heart is with the family and friends of Pastor Clint Dobson, as well as the loved ones of every victim who suffered at the hands of this monster. Ensuring that Texas law is upheld and capital sentences are carried out is a somber responsibility. Victims deserve justice, and criminals who commit heinous crimes such as this must be punished.”
Nelson’s execution marked the first in Texas this year and the second in the United States in 2025.
This article originally appeared in the Baptist Standard.
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