Man guilty of killing Texas pastor was teen felon

Steven Lawayne Nelson, 25, is facing the death penalty or life in prison without parole for the suffocation death of the Rev. Clint Dobson at Arlington's NorthPointe Baptist Church in March 2011. Nelson also beat the church secretary so severely that she suffered a broken jaw and memory problems, and then he stole her car and other items.

Jurors in Fort Worth deliberated a little more than an hour Monday morning before finding Nelson guilty of capital murder. Prosecutor Page Simpson said during closing arguments that Nelson forced Dobson and his secretary, Judy Elliott, to tie each other up. Simpson called Nelson a "predator" who committed a terrible crime because he wanted to steal a car and the victims' credit cards.

Nelson denied killing the minister. He told jurors last week that two friends committed the crime while he stayed outside, and he only entered the church to steal a laptop.

But prosecutors showed the jury text messages Nelson sent the day after the killing, including one saying that he messed up. In another sent the day of the murder, he wrote: "I don't mean to brag. I'm a monster." Blood from both victims was found on a pair of Nelson's shoes, and studs from his belt were found at the church, according to testimony.

During the penalty phase of his trial, which began about two hours after he was convicted, Tarrant County juvenile services intake supervisor Mary Kelleher said Nelson was 14 when he was sent to a juvenile prison for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, burglary and criminal trespassing.