In the US state of Texas, a man who claimed he did not commit the 2011 murder of a pastor was put to death by lethal injection, reports RTE.
For the murder of Clint Dobson, 28, during a robbery of the NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, close to Dallas, Steven Nelson, 37, was sent on death row for more than a dozen years.
The church secretary, Judy Elliott, was severely battered during the heist but managed to escape, reports RTE.
The US Supreme Court had refused to consider Nelson’s case, and Texas courts had repeatedly denied his appeals against his conviction and death sentence.
According to a statement released by state official Amanda Hernandez, he was put to death and declared dead at 6:50 p.m. local time yesterday (12:50 a.m. Irish time today), reports RTE.
Nelson was waiting for his execution at the maximum-security jail in Livingston, a town 120 kilometres north of Houston, when AFP recently conducted an interview with him.
He remarked, “It’s hard at times,” “You’re anticipating execution. That breaks a piece of you every day, sort of. You don’t want to do nothing at all, reports RTE.
Nelson admitted to being a lookout during the heist and going into the chapel to take certain things after the murder.
However, he claimed that the murder was carried out by his two accomplices, who were never tried.
“I didn’t know what was going on on the inside,” he said, claiming his friends “blamed everything on me,” reports RTE.
“So they’re free and I’m locked up,” he said. “I’m here on death row because of what somebody else did,” reports RTE.
While incarcerated, Nelson wed Helene Noa Dubois, a Frenchwoman, but said prior to the execution that he did not want her to see it.
“But if she makes that choice to be there then that’s her choice,” reports RTE.
Nelson’s last words were that he was “at peace.”
He reportedly stated, “Always live for me and enjoy life,” according to state officials. “You know I’m not afraid… I’m content and eager to get home, reports RTE.
“Let’s ride Warden.”
Following a previous case in South Carolina, Nelson’s death increased the total number of executions in the United States to two this year, following 25 last year, reports RTE.
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