A inmate who is set to be put executed today insists he is innocent - and proclaimed that he is "not the monster they say I am."

Steven Nelson, 37, wants a lie detctor to prove he is innocent despite being convicted of the of Clint Dobson, the 28-year-old pastor of the NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas.

Nelson acknowledges he served as a lookout during the robbery there and he entered the church after the death to steal some items but denies murdering the pastor. However, he has reportedly been denied a lie detector and is set to be executed on death row later today.

Reflecting on his upcoming execution, he said: "People do deserve second chances. You know, I'm not a lost cause. I'm not beyond, beyond help. I'm not broken... I'm not the loss they say that I am."

The murder happened in 2011 and since his conviction, Nelson has been caged in an 8x10-foot cell for 22 to 24 hours a day. Chances of any reprieve looked bleaker when as the 78-year-old politician, .

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Mr Dobson was beaten and suffocated in the attack in 2011, while Judy Elliott, the church secretary, was also badly beaten but survived. Nelson has since said he would like to apologise to Ms Elliott claiming "it still hurts to this days that I couldn't do nothing at the time".

But Nelson's appeals against his conviction and death sentence have been repeatedly rejected by Texas courts and the US Supreme Court has declined to hear his case.

In an interview with News Nation, Nelson stressed he did not commit the murder. He said: "My lawyers at that time told me not to testify because during that trial, they only did surface stuff. They didn't investigate my other two co defendants. They didn't investigate anything.

"The evidence that my trial lawyers in that time didn't present, it shows that I did not kill anybody. It also shows how the judicial system is made for you to lose at all costs, no matter what. And that shouldn't be right."

Nelson said he is afraid to leave his wife alone and it is up to her to decide whether she wants to witness his execution adding that he didn't want his wife to witness the moment the lethal injection is administered. He has also tried to reach out to the church but they have reportedly denied his letters.