Three suspects charged in connection with the 2015 disappearance and murder of Bardstown mother Crystal Rogers were in a Nelson County Court on Feb. 8, 2024. (Left to Right) Steve Lawson, Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson. (WDRB images)
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The prosecution will ask that the three men stand trial together. Defense attorneys will make a motion to move the case out of Nelson County.
Attorney Brian Butler said Houck is a "pariah" locally and also didn't want the trial to be held in any county in central Kentucky, including Fayette or Jefferson counties. He suggested Boyd County or Daviess County, since they are outside the Louisville and Lexington media markets and are "demographically" similar to Nelson.
Prosecutor Shane Young has asked a judge to join the cases against Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson and Steve Lawson into one trial given they are alleged to have “acted in concert to accomplish the murder of Crystal Rodgers and to dispose of evidence which would conceal the murder.”
