..  ..Nelson Shelton ...No 165919 ...Sussex Correctional Institution ...Georgetown, Delaware ...Year of Birth 1968 ...Marital Status single ...Children one ...Date of offense January 12, 1992 ...Sentenced to death April 30, 1993 ...Status executed March 17, 1995, by lethal injection . Click on the image to view a larger version. Scroll below for an account of the session.

previous next - additional links below.

On January 11, 1992, Nelson Shelton spent the afternoon drinking beer with his brother Steven, his cousin Jack Outten, & his girlfriend, Christina Gibbons. That evening, at a bar in New Castle, Delaware, they met 64 year old Wilson Mannon. The group left the bar with Mannon, whose body was found the next day, beaten to death with the top of a washing machine. At trial the state's principal witness was Gibbons, who claimed at first that Nelson's brother was uninvolved in the murder. All 3 men were sentenced to death. Nelson decided not to appeal & was executed in 1995. Nelson Shelton could not have been more different from his cousin Jack Outten. He entered the interview room crestfallen. A death-penalty "volunteer," he had ordered his lawyer not to appeal his sentence. His rationale was that if he could not work, he might as well die. "What I miss most? The morning part. I had a lot of problems, but I loved to work. And I guess it comes from my father....I was always the first one on the job site. And I was just going along with the mornings" During his time on death row, he stared back at a life that didn't seem worth continuing. He didn't like what he saw; his conscience was acting up. Like so many others, he sought salvation in religion. Having found God, Nelson was reduced to meekness. It was hard to tell whether he was speaking from the heart or just parroting phrases from his new-found religion. He seemed sincerely resigned to his death. "Well, yeah, the death penalty is OK & it's suitable. And I'm pretty much comfortable with that because I believe in the Holy Bible & I believe in every wonder that's in there....And it was right after the flood, when God told Moses, his son would be proof & multiply....And one of the first laws was if any man shall shed any man's blood, by man shall that man's blood be shed. And that was right."

Nelson's life of crime came back to torture both his sleeping & waking hours. Influenced by his older brother, who had taught him to be aggressive, Nelson had gotten deeper & deeper into trouble. Now he was taking medication to keep the memories from overpowering him. "Recently, I tried some antidepressant medication. I wouldn't let them put me on those Thorazine or Halcion or any of that stuff. And I'm on just a regular, generic antidepressant, because I was sleeping too much. I was putting in 16, 12 hours in bed....I've been going, trying to struggle with a normal routine for the last week. It helps with the medication, the antidepressant." Nelson had little success in school, where he alternated between the roles of class clown & class bully. His few good moments were eclipsed by repeated stints in juvenile detention. Called slow all his life, he had to search for the words to put his education into perspective. "My dad used to always call me stupid. Literally. And I didn't know anything. Because no one showed me nothing. Not one person showed me anything that was right. Not one." While I was photographing Nelson there were long periods of silence. I felt like a voyeur. He was near tears. "And now I think about that man [Wilson Mannon]. And I think about his family & what his family's going through....Even though my father was rough with me & had a bad fuse, you know, to brutally kill like that-....I know he was a real kind, gentle guy, you know....And it's like he was getting ready to retire & enjoy life. And the way I see it now, is that before he could retire & enjoy the fruits of his labor, you know, 4 evil people came along & snuffed his life out....No, I...I'm really torn. Even though my life is in the balance, you know."