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Sunday's Child - Nikolas
Convict Causes Courtroom Flooding After Trial 10/16/12
Associated Press
October 16, 2012
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The man convicted of killing a North Texas pastor in his church during a robbery broke a sprinkler head and caused courtroom flooding after he was sentenced to death.
Steven Lawayne Nelson had been taken out of the courtroom and put in a nearby holding area after Tuesday's sentencing. Proceedings were over but some people remained in the courtroom.
State District Judge Mike Thomas says Nelson somehow broke a sprinkler head in the holding cell. Water slowly started seeping into the courtroom, so deputies ordered everyone out.
Jurors had deliberated a little more than an hour before deciding on the death penalty for Nelson. He was convicted of killing the Rev. Clint Dobson and beating his secretary in Arlington's NorthPointe Baptist Church last year, then stealing the secretary's car.