The final words of a death row inmate who was convicted of murdering a pastor have been revealed.

In 2011, Steven Lawayne Nelson killed 28-year-old Clint Dobson, a pastor at NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas.

As well as the young pastor being killed, Dobson’s secretary, Judy Elliot, was badly beaten but survived.

But Nelson claimed that he didn’t kill Dobson and that he’d entered the church on that fateful day to be lookout as his accomplices robbed the establishment.

During his testimony, he claimed Dobson and Elliot were already on the floor when he entered the church, adding that they were still breathing at that point.

Despite Nelson insisting that he was innocent, he was still sentenced to death and died by lethal injection yesterday (February 5).

Steven Lawayne Nelson died by lethal injection on February 5 (CECILE CLOCHERET/AFP via Getty Images)

Before his death, he shared his final words, telling his wife, whom he married while incarcerated, to ‘enjoy life’ while also saying: “It is what it is.”

“I’m not scared, I’m at peace,” Nelson continued, as per Associated Press. His final three words were: “Let’s ride, Warden.”

The 37-year-old died 24 minutes after the injection was administered and was pronounced dead at 6.50pm CST.

Speaking before his passing yesterday, Nelson insisted that he wasn’t ‘the monster they say I am’.

As to what he would say to Dobson’s secretary who was badly hurt in the ordeal, Nelson told NewsNation: “I will tell you that I’d like to apologize for my actions in the role that I played — even though I wasn’t the person who assaulted her. It still hurts to this day that I couldn’t do nothing at the time, you know?”

While most death row inmates get a final meal request, this wasn’t the case for Nelson.

The former inmate always claimed that he wasn’t responsible for the pastor’s death (CECILE CLOCHERET/AFP via Getty Images)

As to why he didn’t get one, it comes after the actions of another death row inmate – Lawrence Russell Brewer.

Brewer was executed in 2011 and before his death, he reportedly requested two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover’s pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

But Brewer didn’t eat a single bite of the meal.

As a result, the state of Texas abolished all special meal requests for death row inmates. Instead, inmates who are set to be executed simply get whatever is served in the cafeteria.

“It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege,” Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said at the time the decision was made.

Donald Trump has signed a new executive bill that is set to reinstate the ‘global gag rule’ on abortions – but what does it actually mean?

President Trump has been in the Oval Office for just a matter of days but he’s wasted no time getting his feet under the table.

Trump signed off on numerous executive orders – which included halting the ban of TikTok, changing laws on immigration, and declaring that there are ‘only two genders’ – a matter of hours upon his return to the White House.

Now, the president has signed off a new executive bill that is set to reinstate the ‘global gag rule’ on abortions, known as the ‘Mexico City policy’.

Donald Trump has signed off a number of executive orders in his first week (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

What is the Mexico City policy?

The new executive bill, known as the ‘Mexico City policy’, cuts off any aid provided by the US to any foreign organization that provides abortion services, counseling, or even advocacy.

So, essentially, a bunch of companies face a tough choice – either cease all abortion-related services, or they’ll lose assisted funding provided by the US.

In fact, organizations must now provide proof they will not use funding from any other source for abortion-related services, including that of non-US donors, if they want assistance from the US.

History of the Mexico City policy

The ‘Mexico City policy’ is often used by Republican presidents, having first been brought in by Ronald Reagan at a 1984 United Nations conference.

The policy has remained divisive for a number of years and has been yo-yo’d in and out of law – it tends to go that Republicans will sign it in, Democrats will revoke it.

The bill has even been dubbed the ‘global gag rule’ due to it restricting not just services but also speech, according to its harshest critics.

The bill has its critics (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

What impact does the Mexico City policy have in the real world?

The Guttmacher Institute, which looks into stats on abortion restrictions and their subsequent impact, states the policy can cut off access to contraception, while also leading women to go towards unsafe abortions.

Rebecca Hart Holder, who is the president of Reproductive Equity Now, said: “Reinstating the Mexico City policy will have deadly consequences for people across the globe.

“The United States is a vital partner to healthcare providers and organizations around the world, and robbing those frontline providers of their ability to provide the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare, and even information about people’s options, will result in people losing their lives to pregnancy complications.”

President Donald Trump has been vowing to ‘make America great again’ for the last decade, and one of his answers for doing that is bringing in more aggressive tariffs.

The 78-year-old spoke at the House GOP retreat at his golf club, the Trump National Doral, in Miami, Florida, where he revealed his plans to make the US ‘more powerful than ever before’, and it has left people shocked.

“America is going to be very rich again, and it’s going to happen very quickly. It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” President Trump said, just one week on from his inauguration.

“Do you know the United States, in 1870 to 1913, all tariffs – and that was the richest period in the history of the United States, relatively speaking, in other words, relatively – and they set up the great Tariff Commission of 1887.

“And this commission had one function – what to do with all the money that we took in. It was so enormous that they had no idea, it was a blue ribbon committee was set up 1887.”

There’s a lot of talk being said about tariffs, so let’s clear up what they are – they are taxes imposed on foreign goods, meaning many of these goods will cost more to sell in the US.

While Trump has vowed to end federal income taxes, it doesn’t mean residents will get away Scot-free. What is likely to happen is that prices will go up on foreign-made goods, meaning the consumer will pay more.

(The White House)

Advanced countries fell out of favor with tariffs following World War II, because they often lead to ‘reduced trade, higher prices for consumers, and retaliation from abroad’, the Council on Foreign Relations reports.

A tariff is a tax imposed on foreign-made goods, paid by the importing business to its home country’s government.

Back to Trump’s speech…

The president continued: “And what to do with all of the money that we had. And again, Teddy Roosevelt [26th POTUS] was a beneficiary, because when [William] McKinley [25th POTUS] was killed, he took over this vast sum of money, and he did all of those national parks and all of the other things.

“And I’m not knocking him, but he was given a vast amount of money, and that was all made through tariffs, as we had no income tax. The income tax came in in 1913.

President Trump has vowed to impose more aggressive tariffs on foreign goods ((Melina Mara-Pool/Getty Images)

“As I said in my speech last week, instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign nations, we should be tariffing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens. Does that make sense? Right?”

In short, this means Trump has plans to impose tariffs on foreign goods.

After a snippet of his speech was uploaded to Twitter, US citizens were left shocked at the suggested move.

“Wow,” typed one person simply, as another commented: “Not a huge fan of him but reducing or completely canceling the income tax would make a huge difference to us.”

And a third added: “American citizens shouldn’t pay, we should tariff all of other countries who have used our economy as a piggy bank.”

Donald Trump has made his stance clear after backlash over his newly-imposed tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China.

Today marks two weeks since President Trump returned to The White House for a second term, and he’s certainly been busy.

The 47th POTUS broke records for the number of executive orders signed on his first day as president, which included making changes to passports and immigration just to name a few.

The Trump administration has also imposed higher tariffs on imports from China, Canada and Mexico, which has caused controversy.

Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on imports (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Why is Trump imposing tariffs?

The tariffs, which come into effect on Tuesday (February 4), are part of Trump’s plan to ‘take bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country’.

“There is growing production of fentanyl in Canada, and enough fentanyl was seized at the northern border last fiscal year to kill 9.8 million Americans,” the order claims.

“Additionally, illegal border crossings from Canada reached historic new highs every year for the last four fiscal years.”

The executive order places 25 percent tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent tariff on China.

With Mexico and Canada since issuing counter-tariffs, Trump has taken to his Truth Social account to issue a brutal message for ‘anybody that’s against tariffs’ as tensions heighten.

He wrote: “Anybody that’s against Tariffs, including the Fake News Wall Street Journal, and Hedge Funds, is only against them because these people or entities are controlled by China, or other foreign or domestic companies.

Trump has issued a brutal message following the criticism (Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

“Anybody that loves and believes in the United States of America is in favor of Tariffs. They should have never ended, in favor of the Income Tax System, in 1913. The response to Tariffs has been FANTASTIC!”

The incoming tariffs are set to have an impact on every American household, with families expected to notice a hike in their weekly food shop.

What will be going up in price due to Trump’s tariffs?

Fruit and veg

The price of an avocado and or a pack of tomatoes may go up due to the Trump’s tariffs.

The US purchased over $45 billion in food and farming products from Mexico in 2023 – with almost two-thirds of all imported veg coming from the US’ southern neighbor, as well as just under half of all fruits and nuts shipped to the country.

Cell phones

It isn’t the first time China has had tariffs placed on goods it’s wanting to sell in the US, the only difference now is that smartphones manufactured in the East Asian country will cost 10 percent more for to sell them in the States.

Liquor

If you’re a fan of tequila or whisky, then you may want to grab your ID and head to your local liquor store because alcohol is among the list of things the US relies heavily on from Mexico and Canada.

According to the trade group Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, in 2023 Canada imported the second-most amount of spirits into the US, with Mexico importing the third-most – only the European Union (EU) shipped more into the country.

Cars and auto parts

Over one in five cars and light trucks sold in the US are reportedly built either side of the US’ borders. In 2023, $106 billion worth of motors were shipped into the US from Mexico and Canada – $69 billion from the south, and $37 billion from the north.

Meanwhile, a further $98 billion worth of car parts also came from the two countries – $78 billion from Mexico and $20 billion from Canada.

Popular toy trucks

If you’re a parent you may be familiar with Tonka trucks, or you might have even had one as a child yourself.

Unfortunately, they are all manufactured in China – so if you thought they were already an expensive present for your kids, they could soon be a little more costly.

Gasoline and crude oil

In January to November last year, the US’ northern neighbor sent $90 billion worth of crude oil to the US, while Mexico shipped $11 billion.

It comes as no surprise that Canada is the largest importer of crude oil into the country, with Mexico in second place.

While Canadian oil is currently set to be hit with a 10 percent tariff rather than a 25 percent one, it could still have a big impact on consumers.

Tariffs on Canadian oil imports is expected to push up prices of gasoline – with TD Economics suggesting it could cost around 30 to 70 cents more per gallon to fill up your motor.