1st Crystal Rogers murder trial comes with unique challenges, Louisville legal expert says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In just a few days, one of the suspects in the Crystal Rogers murder case will go on trial in Bowling Green. Rogers disappeared a decade ago and is presumed dead.

Greg Simms, a Louisville attorney not affiliated with the case, talked about some of the challenges in the case. You can find a Q&A with Simms below ahead of the start of the trial Tuesday:

Q: "This is a case where cameras aren't allowed in the courtroom. Is that a surprise to you ... especially since, in Kentucky, we have cameras in the courtroom, except federal court?"

Simms: "It's a bit of a surprise to me. I think this particular judge typically, in the past has allowed cameras, in the courtroom. ... I do completely understand the desire to make sure jurors are focused, to make sure they're not distracted by people who are in the room, reporters or otherwise, recording things or writing things down or trying to livestream, things like that. It's legal. Courts have to allow access to the press. They don't necessarily have to allow full access to the press."

Q: "How difficult would it be to get a conviction in the Steve Lawson case and Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson? Crystal Rogers' body hasn't been found."

Simms: "We're not dealing with a murder case. We're dealing with a conspiracy to commit murder case. Conspiracy to commit murder doesn't require that anybody dies. It requires an agreement and it requires an overt act, some kind of help in furtherance of that agreement for a murder."

Q: "What about the tampering with evidence charge? What needs to be proven there?"

Simms: "Tampering with physical evidence is a charge that encompasses an action taken to alter or destroy evidence that a person believes reasonably would be used in the judicial process. The admission that he gave alone, according to the grand jury proceedings, would I guess be enough to establish the charge of tampering with physical evidence. I think the difficult charge here for the prosecution to prove is the conspiracy to commit murder."

Q: "For Steve Lawson, he is going on trial alone and then Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson, his son, will have their own trial. What is the benefit of separating the two?"

Simms: "Especially if I feel another individual was more culpable than my client, I don't want a jury giving a guilty-by-association mentality to evidence that is presented. If I'm going second, I see that as a benefit. Let's say the first individual is convicted. The second individual has the ability to say they're the one who did it. Look, they've already been convicted. It's a way to pawn off accountability, whether it be legitimate or not. There's an appearance there, if somebody has taken a fall.

"Let's say, if the first person is acquitted, that can put a significant amount of pressure on prosecutors. If you go in and try your best and you throw everything at the wall and a jury listens to the evidence and they come back and they say 'We don't think it's beyond a reasonable doubt,' and you're looking down the road and got two more of these to do, that's disheartening."

Q: How difficult will this be? (Investigators) have said Steve Lawson has lied and he would change his story over and over again."

Simms: "The prosecution will be relying a lot of circumstantial evidence. Surely, they will have numerous witnesses saying 'Mr. Lawson told me this. Mr. Lawson told me that.' If I look into my crystal bar here, I would guess that some of those witnesses — or all — would have something to gain, cases they're trying to get some benefit for. If you are a defense lawyer and you're trying to point out credibility issues, you look for drug issues or mental health problems in the past. Typically, time is the friend of the defendant. Time is not the friend for prosecutors. When a lot of time passes, prosecutors have significant problems. People's memories don't get better with time. That's a fact, and jurors typically know that.

"There's a lot of sealed documents in this case. A lot of sealed evidence has been taken by the court, maybe more than a dozen instances of sealed portions of the record. So I don't know what they're going to be able to prove."

Q: "The trial has been moved to Bowling Green in Warren County. Is that far away enough for people to not have knowledge of the case and to get a fair trial there?

Simms: "That's a good question. The footage, the coverage on this case, has not been isolated to just Nelson County and Bardstown. There's been a lot of media coverage on this case. The short answer is they're going to find out when they start doing jury selection. Typically, they'll ask what all knowledge do you have of this?

"It's far enough away — if you look how these things are typically done — moving it more than a couple counties away is pretty reasonable. Hopefully, they'll be able to find an unbiased jury and get some justice here."

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