UPDATE: 3:50 p.m.
The blood of a slain pastor and a church secretary beaten and left for dead was found on an Air Jordan shoe found in the closet of accused killer Steven Lawayne Nelson, a DNA expert testified Thursday in Nelson's capital murder trial.
Several different spots of blood were detected on the black-and-green Nikes, and DNA from pastor Clint Dobson and church secretary Judy Elliott were found on the shoes, DNA expert Carolyn Vanwinkle from the Tarrant County medical examiner's office told jurors.
Nelson, 25, is standing trial for capital murder in the March 3, 2011 beating and suffocation death of Dobson, 28, who was pastor of NorthPointe Baptist Church. He is also accused of beating Elliott so severely that her husband didn't recognize her.
The pair were found in Dobson's office in the church building in north Arlington.
Prosecutors Page Simpson and Bob Gill are seeking the death penalty against Nelson.
Defense attorneys Bill Ray and Steve Gordon have tried to point the finger at a friend of Nelson's who was initially also charged with the crime. The friend told police he met up with Nelson after the killing and prosecutors have presented evidence corraborating his alibi.
Testimony is expected to continue Friday in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court.
-Dianna Hunt
UPDATE: 1:50 p.m.
Accused killer Steven Lawayne Nelson told an acquaintance that he 'hit a lick' and killed a pastor during a robbery, the woman testified in Nelson's capital murder trial.
"What was his demeanor?" asked prosecutor Page Simpson.
"Nonchalent," testified Brittany Bursey. "He didn't really show any emotion or any care about anything."
Bursey said Nelson, who was introduced to her as "Romeo," came to her house with her nephew and another friend. She quickly learned he was driving a stolen car - "nobody wanted to ride in that car" - and asked him about it.
Bursey said Nelson told her he'd gotten it by robbing a pastor. She said he didn't go into extensive detail other than to say "somebody got strangled and somebody got beat half to death."
He added, "I think I killed her too."
Defense attorney Bill Ray grilled Bursey about inconsistencies in her testimony Thursday and testimony she gave to a Tarrant County grand jury that another person, known as A.G., told her about the killing. She insisted that she had talked directly to Nelson.
Testimony is continuing before state District Judge Mike Thomas in Criminal District Court #4.
-Dianna Hunt
UPDATE: Noon
Trial has recessed for lunch. Back at 1:30 for more testimony.
UPDATE: 11 a.m.
A shoe print found on an envelope in the church where pastor Clint Dobson was slain appeared to match a pair of counterfeit Nike Air Jordan shoes belonging to accused killer Steven Lawayne Nelson, a former trace evidence analyst testified Thursday.
Kelly Belcher, a former trace analyst for the Tarrant County medical examiner's office, said the print on the envelope was only a partial print but seemed to match the shoes seized from Nelson's home after his arrest.
Testimony is continuing in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court.
-Dianna Hunt
An Arlington man initially accused of being an accomplice in the brutal slaying of an Arlington pastor was with a girlfriend in Venus south of Fort Worth when the crimes occurred, witnesses testified Thursday in the capital murder trial of Steven Lawayne Nelson.
Nelson, 25, is standing trial on a capital murder charge in the suffocation death of Clinton Dobson, 28, pastor of NorthPointe Baptist Church in north Arlington. A church secretary, Judy Elliott, was severely beaten and left for dead, but survived the attack.
But another man, Anthony Springs, was seen on surveillance tape with Nelson at The Parks at Arlington mall a few hours after the killing and was initially arrested for the crime. He said he met up with Nelson after the killing and went to the mall with him.
Spring's girlfriend and another acquaintance told jurors that they left Springs with Nelson at a gas station in Arlington several hours after the killing. Nelson was driving Elliott's white Mitsubishi Galant when he pulled up, and offered to buy them "free gas." The credit card, however, did not work, acquaintance Darrian McClain told jurors.
Testimony is continuing in state District Judge Mike Thonas' court.
-Dianna Hunt
So this guy had fake shoes and a fake girlfriend.
Posted by: Billy Davis | October 04, 2012 at 12:31 PM
anthony springs was with me in venus texas i heard the whole convo on speaker phone nelson admitted to hitting a lick &i dropped him off, he may have been on camera with him however he didnt know what had happen and did not spend one dime off any card
Posted by: kelsey duffer | October 04, 2012 at 07:00 PM