LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Attorneys for Brooks Houck accused investigators of pressuring and coercing inconsistent information out of Steve Lawson and his son, Joseph Lawson, promising them immunity to pin Crystal Rogers disappearance on Houck, according to a motion filed Friday.

"The interviews of Stephen Lawson and Joseph Lawson demonstrate a 'get Brooks' mentality that colored every decision made by law enforcement in this investigation," attorney Brian Butler wrote in the motion. "Police represented to both Lawsons that they were not concerned whether either one of them murdered Crystal Rogers as long as they agreed to cooperate against Brooks. ... Both Lawsons sought to avoid jail time by saying whatever they needed to say to obtain the immunity offer that was dangled in front of them."

As an example, the motion alleges a Kentucky State Police detective told Steve Lawson, "You have a blanket (immunity) to get out of murder" and that he was being offered "the opportunity of a lifetime" where "these charges can disappear."

In the motion, Butler says that Houck has cooperated with law enforcement since Rogers went missing in 2015 and that "if" she is deceased, prosecutors "can do no more than guess at who killed her, how she died, why she died and where she died."

He said the Lawsons were "collateral damage" of an investigation solely focused on Houck and without their statements, "there is not and was not sufficient evidence to indict Brooks."

Butler declined to comment on the motion Friday. Attorney Theodore Lavit argued against the cases being combined in a new filing Monday.

The motion follows a request by the prosecution earlier this week to try all three men together on Feb. 10, 2025, given they are facing the same charges and allegedly worked with each other.

Prosecutor Shane Young asked a judge to join the cases 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."

But Butler argues it would be unfair to try the men together as Houck "has a right to expose the investigative bias that led to his charges" and challenge the "inconsistent statements" the Lawsons gave to law enforcement. "Further, he cannot mount a meaningful defense without showing the jury the tactics law enforcement employed to elicit statements from the Lawsons."

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.

Butler argued that the Lawsons were promised immunity for their cooperation, a claim Steve Lawson's attorney has also made to the court.

The special prosecutor, Young, according to Butler, told Steve Lawson he had talked to the judge and "you can roll on home tonight" if he cooperated.

Lavit has argued that Steve Lawson was interviewed by the Nelson County Commonwealth's Attorney's office and the FBI repeatedly in the years since Rogers disappeared in 2015 and, "from the very beginning," police and prosecutors made it clear any statements made would not be used against him.

Butler said Joseph Lawson was also promised immunity if he cooperated and the statements he and his father made cannot be used against them in the trial.

Joseph Lawson was told by a detective that, "Whether you killed her or not wouldn't be our concern," according to the court records filed by Butler. "We are trying to get you out of a crime."

Young, the special prosecutor, has declined to comment on the allegation that the Lawsons were offered immunity for testimony against Houck.

Butler argued that using the statements made by the Lawsons in a trial where they were also defendants would be improper. He claims Steve Lawson's interviews — more than 20 hours worth — "are full of inconsistencies, later-admitted lies, and responses to leading questions aimed at implicating Brooks in the disappearance" of Rogers.

The prosecution has used statement taken from the Lawsons to "attempt to tie together circumstantial (at best) evidence and innuendo to build a case against Brooks," Butler argued. "If that were not the case, Brooks would have been charged in connection with Ms. Rogers's disappearance years ago. Tellingly, he was not indicted until after statements were extracted from Stephen and Joseph Lawson."

The defense attorneys have asked that the 2025 trial be moved out of Bardstown because the massive amount of publicity has tainted potential jurors.

They have suggested Boyd County or Daviess County, since they are outside the Louisville and Lexington media markets and are "demographically" similar to Nelson.

Joseph Lawson, 32, pleaded not guilty in September to criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the Rogers case. He is not charged with Rogers' murder, but prosecutors instead charged him with conspiracy, meaning they believe he was involved in some fashion with whoever killed Rogers.

The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge is 10-20 years in prison.

In addition, the indictment charges Lawson with complicity to tampering with physical evidence when he "destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered physical evidence." The maximum penalty for that charge is one to five years in prison.

Steve Lawson, according to a Dec. 6 Nelson County indictment, agreed to "aid one or more persons in the planning or commission" of the death of another and then "destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed" or altered physical evidence on July 3 or July 4, 2015, when Rogers disappeared.

Houck's indictment accused him of "acting alone or in complicity with another" committing the offense of murder of Rogers. He's also charged with tampering when he "destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered" physical evidence, according to the indictment.

This story will be updated. 

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