Nelson, 37, was put to death by lethal injection for smothering Clint Dobson, a 28-year-old pastor and husband, during a botched robbery at

Steven Nelson, 38, was sentenced to death in 2012, a year after he was found guilty of murdering Arlington pastor Clint Dobson.

A Texas man convicted of beating and suffocating a Dallas area pastor in his church during a robbery was put to death Wednesday evening, the second execution in the U.S. this year and the first of four scheduled in Texas over the next three months.