Credit: Arlington Police Department & Alamy
Death Row Inmate’s Chilling Final Words To Warden Before Execution Revealed
A Texas death row inmate uttered chilling final words to a warden before his execution.
Steven Lawayne Nelson, 37, was convicted for the 2011 killing of Rev. Clint Dobson in his own church during a robbery, reports AP News.
The 28-year-old pastor was beaten, str**gled, and suffocated inside NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, while his 67-year-old secretary, Judy Elliott, was badly beaten but survived.
Nelson testified his innocence at trial and claimed he only served as a robbery lookout.
He maintained that he waited outside the church for 25 minutes before entering to see Dobson and Elliott had been beaten while insisting the pastor was still alive.
Nelson said he took Dobson’s laptop and that one of the other men gave him the secretary’s car keys and credit cards.
The victims were later discovered by Elliott’s husband, the church’s part-time music minister. He didn’t immediately recognize his wife as she had been so severely beaten.
In the trial, evidence pointing towards Nelson’s guilt included fingerprints and pieces of his broken belt at the crime scene. Surveillance video also showed him driving Elliott’s car and using her credit cards.
Investigators said the two men Nelson had blamed for the brutal attack had detailed alibis.
Nelson’s attorneys appealed on claims of bad legal representation at his trial and sentencing. They argued that lawyers did little to challenge the alibis of the two other men or present mitigating evidence of Nelson’s troubled childhood – he had a lost history of legal trouble and arrests that began as early as six years old.
As Nelson awaited trial, he was indicted for the killing of another jail inmate, yet he was never tried on this charge following his guilty verdict and death sentence.
State and federal courts denied Nelson’s appeals.
The 37-year-old received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. on February 5, 2025, at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
His head, shoulders, and arms are said to have trembled briefly before all movement stopped.
24 minutes later Nelson was pronounced dead.
Yet this wasn’t before the death row inmate uttered his haunting final words, which were directed at the prison’s warden.
Nelson reportedly said: “It is what it is,” before letting officers know: “I’m not scared. I’m at peace.”
He then added: “Let’s ride, Warden.”
Nelson also encouraged his wife, Helene Noa Dubois, to ‘enjoy life.’
As the lethal dose was administered, he added: “Let me go to sleep,” and the word ‘love,’ before gasping and appearing to hold his breath.
The victims’ relatives released statements on February 5.
“As 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,” Dobson’s family said. “Steven 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.”
Bradley Elliott, whose mother survived the attack, said: “I 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.
“Mr. Nelson, we forgive you and hope to see you when we are called home from here.”
Related Article: Woman On Death Row Performed Defiant Final Act Before She Was Executed
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