UPDATE: 2:48
Convicted killer Steven Lawayne Nelson was captured on videotape wrecking a day room in the Tarrant County Jail, then smiling and mugging for a video camera recording his antics.
The video was shown for jurors Wednesday as they hear evidence in the punishment phase of Nelson's capital murder trial.
The video, taken in February of this year, shows Nelson running around the room breaking sprinkler heads and causing the room to be flooded. When jailers order him down so he can be handcuffed, he makes motions as if he were swimming, the video shows.
Prosecutors Bob Gill and Page Simpson are seeking the death penalty against Nelson, 25. He was convicted earlier this week in the brutal suffocation death of Arlington pastor Clint Dobson, 28, of NorthPointe Baptist Church.
-Dianna Hunt
UPDATE: 2:05 p.m.
The jail blanket used to hang Tarrant County Jail inmate Johnathan Holden was knotted outside his cell door, adding to evidence that fellow inmate Steven Lawayne Nelson killed him, a pathologist testified Wednesday.
Dr. Lloyd White, a contract pathologist with the Tarrant County medical examiner's office, concluded that the hanging death of Holden was a homicide, and not suicide.
The testimony is being presented during the punishment phase of Nelson's capital murder trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Nelson was convicted this week of capital murder in the brutal suffocation death of Arlington pastor Clint Dobson, 28, of NorthPointe Baptist Church, during a March 3, 2011 robbery of the church. Church secretary Judy Elliott was beaten and left for dead but survived.
Testimony is continuing in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court.
-Dianna Hunt
UPDATE: 1:47 p.m.
Convicted killer Steven Lawayne Nelson's DNA was found under the right-hand fingernails of a mentally ill inmate who was hanged in his cell, a forensics expert testified Wednesday.
Constance Patton, with the medical examiner's lab, told jurors in Nelson's capital murder trial that she tested clippings taken from Johnathan Holden, 30, who died in the jail.
An inmate who witnessed the hanging said Nelson killed Holden by convincing him to wrap a jail-issued blanket around his neck. The inmate said Nelson then pulled on the blanket until Holden was dead.
During the struggle, however, the inmate said Holden reached up and scratched Nelson was trying to get away.
Testimony is continuing in the punishment phase of Nelson's trial in the death of Arlington pastor Clint Dobson, 28, of NorthPointe Baptist Church. Jurors will decide whether he receives the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
-Dianna Hunt
UPDATE: 12:30 p .m.
Convicted killer Steven Lawayne Nelson spewed hate at a jailer after strangling a mentally ill man who was placed on his cell block in the Tarrant County Jail
"I'll stab you in the neck, bitch," he yelled, according to Sgt. Jon Campos.
Nelson, 25, was convicted of capital murder on Monday in the death of an Arlington pastor, and he is a suspect but has not been formally charged in the hanging death of mentally ill inmate Johnathan Holden, 30.
Clint Dobson, 28, pastor of NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, was beaten, bound and suffocated with a plastic bag over his head during a robbery of the church building on March 3, 2011. Church secretary Judy Elliott was beaten and left for dead but survived.
Jurors in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court are no considering whether to hand Nelson a death sentence or give him life in prison without parole. Testimony is set to resume after the lunch break about 1:20 p.m.
-Dianna Hunt
WEDNESDAY
Accused killer Steven Lawayne Nelson did a "Chuck Berry" celebration dance after strangling a mentally ill inmate with a blanket in the Tarrant County Jail, a former inmate testified Wednesday.
The Star-Telegram is not printing the inmate's name after a request from state District Judge Mike Thomas that the inmate not be identified for fear of retaliation.
The inmate, who is now serving time in state prison for a family violence conviction, told jurors in the punishment phase of Nelson's capital murder trial that Nelson killed 30-year-old Johnathan Holden in late March while they all were housed on the same jail pod.
The inmate said Nelson was out of his cell or his one hour of recreation time when he began poking at Holden with a broom handle. He then lured Holden to the cell door and convinced him to fake a suicide to attract the guards.
The inmate said Holden then grabbed the blanket around Holden's neck, and pulled so hard he eventually stopped kicking.
"I watched the whole thing, from beginning to end," the inmate told jurors. "He was murdered."
"Who murdered him?" asked prosecutor Bob Gill.
"Rico Nelson," the inmate said.
The three inmates were own a cell block intended for troublemakers, and included several that were awaiting trial on capital murder.
Holden's aunt, Sharon Bristow, is expected to testify later today.
Nelson was convicted earlier this week of capital murder in the death of Clint Dobson, 28. Dobson, who was pastor at NorthPointe Baptist Church in north Arlington, was beaten, bound and suffocated with a plastic bag in his office during a robbery. Church secretary Judy Elliott was beaten severely and left for dead but survived.
Nelson has not been charged in the death of Holden but those allegations can be considered by jurors in deciding whether Nelson should receive the death penalty or a life sentence without parole.
-Dianna Hunt & Mitch Mitchell
Does the Walls Unit have an express line? This boy is surely a candidate!
Posted by: TXCOMT | October 10, 2012 at 05:30 PM