Prosecution: Crystal Rogers murder trial is circumstantial case, a 'no body homicide'

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WDRB) -- While questioning potential jurors for the Crystal Rogers murder trial Tuesday, prosecutor Shane Young acknowledged it was a "no body homicide," meaning it is a rare case where the victim's body was not found.

Young also noted there is no confession — and there is not expected to be any eyewitnesses to the murder or a weapon used to kill Rogers — in telling the jury pool it is a case based on circumstantial evidence.

One of the potential jurors asked Young, "How do you know the victim's dead?"

"That's for me to prove," Young said.

Rogers' disappearance has been a mystery for nearly a decade since she went missing in July 2015. She is presumed dead.

By the end of the day, a jury of 15 people, including three alternatives, were seated. Opening statements will begin Wednesday morning for defendants Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson.

Houck, her former boyfriend, is charged with complicity to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, and faces up to 25 years to life in prison. Joseph Lawson is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, facing up to 25 years behind bars.

It took more than seven hours to whittle the 132-person pool down to 15 people.

This was a dramatic shift from the first trial in Bowling Green last month in the Rogers case.

The jury for Steven Lawson, Joseph's father, was seated within a few hours and both the prosecution and defense completed their opening statements, even calling two witnesses on the first day of trial.

Steve Lawson, 54, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence on May 30 for his role in Rogers' slaying. He faces a recommended sentence of 17 years when he is sentenced Aug. 6.

Potential jurors were read a list of more than 50 potential witnesses who may testify over the next two weeks, dozens more than the Steve Lawson trial, which lasted just four days.

Sherry Ballard, Rogers' mother, was not mentioned as a potential witness Tuesday. She testified in Steve Lawson's trial.

During that testimony, Ballard described Houck and Rogers' relationship as strained in 2015. She said Houck had other girlfriends, and Rogers wasn't happy about it. Houck has told police there was nothing unusual going on in their relationship when Rogers disappeared.

One of the reasons jury selection took so much longer this trial was because Judge Charles Simms III and the defense and prosecution went into much more detail about what potential jurors had heard about the case.

The judge began Tuesday by separating the jury pool into four groups based on the following questions:

I have never heard about the case
I have heard about the case, don't know any specifics and haven't formed an opinion
I have heard about the case, know some specifics and haven't formed an opinion
I have heard about the case, know some specifics and have formed an opinion

Several potential jurors said they have heard about the case from local media in Bowling Green, largely because of the trial here last month.

Houck sat in the courtroom Tuesday with his arms folded, clean cut in a blue collared dress shirt. Joseph Lawson was dressed in a black shirt.

Simms said the trial is expected to last 10 days but could go into a third week, as they won't work Friday, July 4.

Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom and, with the jury pool packing the courtroom, media and family members watched the jury process on a video feed in an overflow room.

The trial of Houck, and his alleged accomplice, Joseph Lawson, was moved to Bowling Green in Warren County because of publicity surrounding the case in Nelson County.

While Young acknowledged there is no body or confession, this did not hurt the prosecution in the Steve Lawson trial. Young talked at length about circumstantial evidence Tuesday.

At one point, Young asked potential jurors if they went to bed one night and there was no snow on the ground but woke up with a snow covered lawn, would they conclude it snowed despite them not seeing it?

While some of the evidence against Houck has been tightly sealed, other evidence has come out in court:

He told Steve Lawson, who worked for him, he wanted Rogers "gone," Lawson testified. Lawson said he responded, you mean gone like "deceased."
Houck received a telephone call from Steve Lawson the night she disappeared around midnight. Lawson testified he told him "the job is done," speaking about Rogers' car being moved at the request of Houck.
Houck was seen on surveillance videos driving to his farm on July 3, 2015. He has said he was there for hours with Rogers before he left around midnight. She was never seen again. Houck did not report her missing.

A couple days after Rogers was last seen alive, her car was found abandoned — still running — on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. Her purse and other belongings were inside. Despite years of searching, she's never been found and is presumed dead.

Joseph Lawson is facing the same charges as his father: conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. He is facing up to 25 years in prison.

Sketches of Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson's Trial

During his trial, Steve Lawson acknowledged he was guilty of tampering with physical evidence for helping his son move Rogers' vehicle after she disappeared. Joseph Lawson drove Rogers' car, and his father picked him up when the vehicle had a flat tire, leaving it on the side of Bluegrass Parkway.

Before they left, Steve Lawson reached into Rogers' car and moved the driver's seat forward — because Rogers was short — and removed a miniature Louisville Slugger bat his son carried around regularly.

It's not yet known whether Joseph Lawson will use the same defense strategy as his father. Investigators had hours of testimony from Steve Lawson talking to investigators and grand juries, hoping to get immunity. That immunity was scrapped by prosecutors when they determined he was repeatedly lying.

As for why Steve Lawson called him around midnight the night Rogers vanished, Houck initially told police he didn't remember getting a call.

During that 2015 interrogation, Houck called the number and Lawson said on speaker phone he had called about a rental property. This was a ruse Houck and Lawson planned in advance, investigators say.

The call was actually to tell Houck "the job was done" in moving Rogers' vehicle, Steve Lawson has testified.

Rogers was never seen again. She is presumed dead.

"I'm innocent," Houck told police. "My whole family's name is trashed for something that's completely not even tied to me."