Prosecutor agrees trial for 3 men charged in Crystal Rogers murder will move out of Nelson County

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The three men charged in connection with the murder of Crystal Rogers will have their trial moved out of Nelson County.

The prosecutor, Shane Young, agreed with a motion filed by attorneys for Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson and Steve Lawson that there has been too much publicity since Rogers disappeared in 2015 to find an unbiased jury in Nelson County.

"The venue should be changed," Young said, adding that attorneys will get together and recommend where to move the trial.

Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III did not disagree and set a May 1 hearing on where to hold the trial.

In court records, defense attorneys have suggested Boyd County or Daviess County, since they are outside the Louisville and Lexington media markets and are "demographically" similar to Nelson.

Young has argued the three men should stand trial together on Feb. 10, 2025, given they are facing the same charges and allegedly worked with each other.

That motion was not argued on Thursday.

Attorneys for the three defendants have accused investigators of pressuring and coercing inconsistent information out of Steve Lawson and his son, Joseph Lawson, promising them immunity to pin Rogers disappearance on Houck, according to a recent motion.

Young asked for time to respond to that motion.

Steve Lawson’s attorney, Theo Lavit, said they may need to bring in witnesses and play audio.

A hearing was set for June 13.

"It will be an all-day thing," said attorney Brian Butler, who represents Houck and also said there will be a lot of audio played during the hearing.

"The interviews of Stephen Lawson and Joseph Lawson demonstrate a 'get Brooks' mentality that colored every decision made by law enforcement in this investigation," Butler wrote in a motion on behalf of Houck. "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 investigators 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."

After the hearing, Lavit told reporters that investigators yelled and badgered Steve Lawson but he told them, “I can’t say what you want me to say.”

Lavit said the deal was not in writing but was recorded.

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, 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.

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