Pastor's Widow Testifies During Capital Murder Trial

Arlington pastor killed during robbery in 2011

The wife of a pastor slain during a robbery at his Arlington church testified Tuesday at the capital murder trial of the man accused of killing him.

Steven Lewayne Nelson is accused of killing Clint Dobson in March 2011 at Northpointe Baptist Church and brutally beating Judy Elliott, the church secretary.

Laura Dobson said she first became concerned about her husband much earlier in the day when he didn't answer her calls. Then the phone began going to straight to voice mail, she said. She testified that she called the church's music minister to have someone go and check on him.

Dobson said she was working with an autistic child through a home health company when she got the call something had happened, and she rushed to the church.

"Eventually, the crime victim's lady came up to me and told me that Clint had died, that Clint wasn't here," she said.

Dobson said she collapsed on the ground and ultimately blacked out.

She also told jurors that she continues to pay her husband's cellphone bill so she can hear his voice. She said she also thought on the day that she found out he was dead that she might be pregnant.

Nelson's capital murder trial began Monday.

Security camera footage shown in court Tuesday showed Elliott's stolen 2007 Mitsubishi Galant at about 1:40 p.m. on the day of the crime. Witness Zorie Johnson told jurors he met the defendant at an Arlington tire shop and unknowingly purchased Clint Dobson's stolen computer.

Security cameras also captured Nelson at a nearby Tetco station buying cigarettes and a drink a short time later. Lawyers said the purchase was likely made with money from the computer sale.

Both pieces of evidence were recorded within an hour or so of Dobson's slaying, according to a timetable established by other witnesses.

After skipping opening arguments Monday, defense attorneys spent cross examinations Tuesday questioning the integrity of some of the evidence found at the scene. They said emergency crews that moved things around to treat Elliott could have compromised the evidence.

The defense also said it was not able to have an independent DNA test performed on the BB gun used during the crime because it had been contaminated by the medical examiner's office.

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