LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The three men charged in connection with the murder of Crystal Rogers are scheduled to stand trial on Feb. 10, 2025, although it is not yet known if they will be tried together or in what county.

Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson and Steve Lawson were all in Nelson Circuit Court Thursday facing charges of criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the 2015 disappearance of Rogers.

All parties tentatively agreed on a trial date and prosecutor Shane Young indicated he would file a motion to try the three defendants together, although Houck’s attorney, Brian Butler, said he would object to that.

And Butler told the judge he would be filing a motion to move the trial out of Nelson County.

Judge Charles Simms III set the next hearing date for March 21. Young said he expected to have all the evidence in the case – about 2 terabytes in total – turned over to the defense attorneys by that time.

Rogers was last seen with her boyfriend, Houck, during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. Her car was left running on the side of Bluegrass Parkway with her purse still inside. She's presumed dead, but her body was never found.

Joseph Lawson’s attorney, Kevin Coleman, on Thursday asked the judge to reduce his $500,000 bond to $50,000 unsecured, meaning he wouldn't have to pay a bail unless he failed to show for court.

Lawson, who was the first man arrested last year and charged in connection with Rogers' death, is confined to a wheelchair from injuries in a motorcycle accident and would not be a flight risk or danger to harm anyone, Coleman said.

If released on this bond, Lawson would be placed on home incarceration with GPS monitoring, Coleman said. Coleman also said Lawson would get substance abuse treatment, if released.

But prosecutor Jim Lesousky said Joseph Lawson has a lengthy criminal history and is a risk to obstructing justice in the Rogers case, arguing that once he found out he was a suspect, he texted or called associates and friends to “cover for him to give him an alibi for that night” Rogers disappeared.

“You can let him out of jail … and the commonwealth believes he will continue do that very thing, he will obstruct justice … so he can escape the law,” Lesousky told the judge.

Judge Simms said he would take the motion under consideration and rule by Monday.

Steve Lawson's attorney, Ted Lavit, has said he's looked through the evidence provided by the state and said it's repetitive and without new information. He says Steve Lawson's only involvement is picking up his son, Joseph Lawson, who was driving Rogers' car, when it got a flat tire on the Bluegrass Parkway.

"My client was never asked to move that car and never volunteered to move it," Lavit said. "My client had nothing to do with removing the car from the Bluegrass. The only thing he took out of that car was a Louisville Slugger toy bat that seemed like a childhood toy that Joey kept with him and that was in the backseat. He moved that seat in order to get that bat."

Lavit said Lawson gave the bat to his son, as they left.

Steve Lawson then dropped off his son at a Five Star gas station, Lavit said.

Houck is the primary suspect in Rogers' disappearance.

He was the last person seen with Rogers, his former girlfriend and the mother of his 10-year-old son. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail on a $10 million bond.

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