Steven Lawayne Nelson

Steven Lawayne Nelson (February 18, 1987 – February 5, 2025) was an American convicted murderer, executed for the 2011 murder of 28-year-old Arlington pastor Clinton "Clint" Dobson in Texas. Nelson was found guilty of the murder of Dobson, who was smothered to death during a robbery bid at an Arlington church on March 3, 2011, and sentenced to death on October 16, 2012. Nelson protested his innocence and claimed that he only acted as a lookout while pinpointing two of his friends as the real murderers of Dobson, saying that the alibi of both his friends was not sufficiently rebutted by his trial counsel. None of Nelson's DNA was found on the victim. Nelson's grounds of appeal were rejected, and his conviction and sentence were consequently upheld. After exhausting his appeals, Nelson was executed on February 5, 2025, 13 days before his 38th birthday. He is the second youngest person to be executed in the United States in 2025 proceeding Blaine Milam who was executed at 35.