Attorneys for Steve Lawson ask judge to throw out his conviction in Crystal Rogers' case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Attorneys for Steve Lawson have asked a judge to either grant him a new trial or throw out last week's guilty verdict on charges in connection with the death of Crystal Rogers, arguing he was denied a fair trial.

Lawson, 54, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence on May 30. The jury recommended 17 years in prison, and the formal sentencing date is scheduled for August 6 in Nelson County.

In a motion filed Thursday, the defense presented several arguments, including that the judge made a mistake by not allowing DNA testing on two hairs found in Crystal Rogers' car in 2015.

The hairs did not belong to Steve Lawson - they were too long to belong to him or either of his co-defendants - and were mentioned during the trial several times by the defense as possibly belonging to someone else involved.

Nelson County Judge Charles Simms III ruled before trial that the hairs did not have enough evidentiary relevance to make it worth spending months waiting for results and costing thousands of dollars.

The motion also noted concern about the quick pace of the trial, as it lasted only four days, which is extremely unusual for a murder case, especially one so high-profile and with 10 years worth of evidence.

"It appeared ... that there was an urgency to have the trial concluded by Friday, so as to prevent the jury from having to return Monday," according to the motion.

The jury was out less than three hours before coming to a verdict, which the defense argues is too short of a time to "thoughtfully" deliberate the case.

Defense attorneys Darren Wolff and Zach Buckler also claimed some trial spectators violated an order not to wear any clothing showing support for either side.

The motion said "a plethora of people in the gallery were wearing pink," which was a symbol of a movement called "Team Crystal."

"It was not a coincidence that many individuals were wearing pink," according to the motion.

In addition, as the defense has argued repeatedly, they again claim there was not time enough to prepare for the trial given the overwhelming amount of evidence, including more than 400,000 pages of written documents and hundreds of hours of video.

Wolff and Buckler took over Lawson's case in August 2024 after Lawson fired his previous attorney.

The defense "barely scratched the surface" of looking into all of the evidence while the prosecution has been reviewing the case since 2023 and investigating it since 2015, the motion claims.

The prosecution has not yet filed a response to the motion.

Also, the defense argued a witness was prejudicial because she spoke with Rogers' mother, Sherry Ballard, outside the courtroom during a break and told her she hoped her testimony would bring Ballard "peace."

Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, was last seen alive on July 3, 2015, during the Fourth of July weekend.

Days later, 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.

Brooks Houck, Rogers' boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, is charged with her murder and will stand trial later this month in Bowling Green with Lawson’s son Joseph. Joseph Lawson is facing the same charges as his father, conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.

The defense acknowledged in their opening statements and throughout the trial that Steve Lawson 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.

But Wolff argued "that's the extent of his involvement."

He told the jury in his closing argument the prosecution didn't put on evidence to prove that Rogers was murdered or that Lawson had anything to do with her disappearance.

"We still don't know what happened to Crystal Rogers," Wolff told jurors, noting the case is still under investigation.

However, in his closing arguments, prosecutor Jim Lesousky said of Lawson, "This man, by his words, put himself in the middle of a conspiracy, an evil conspiracy."

Lesousky indicated that there was overwhelming evidence that Lawson knew about Houck wanting to kill Rodgers and helping him try and get away with it.

"He knew she was going to be killed," he said. "That was the plan."

This story may be updated.

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