LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nelson County Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms lowered Joseph Lawson's bond to $250,000 while he awaits trial for his charges in the Crystal Rogers investigation.

Lawson's attorney, Kevin Coleman, on Thursday asked the judge to reduce his $500,000 bond to $50,000 unsecured, meaning he wouldn't have to pay a bail unless he failed to show for court.

In his request for a decreased bail, Lawson argued that the $500,000 bail is "excessive, oppressive, and amounts to a denial of bail considering his socio-economic status, his presumption of innocence, and his anticipated conduct if released."

Lawson, who was the first man arrested last year and charged in connection with Rogers' death, is confined to a wheelchair from injuries in a motorcycle accident and would not be a flight risk or danger to harm anyone, Coleman said.

Simms instead ordered Monday that the bond to be cut in half with a handful of added conditions. Coleman said Monday that Lawson doesn't have $250,000, so Lawson will remain in jail.

"In making this determination, this Court has considered the gravity of the conspiracy to commit murder charge while recognizing that Lawson's pretrial assessment indicates that he is a moderate flight risk and a moderate risk to reoffend," Simms wrote.

Prosecutor Jim Lesousky said Thursday that Lawson has a lengthy criminal history and is a risk to obstructing justice in the Rogers case, arguing that once he found out he was a suspect, he texted or called associates and friends to "cover for him to give him an alibi for that night" Rogers disappeared.

"You can let him out of jail ... and the commonwealth believes he will continue do that very thing, he will obstruct justice ... so he can escape the law," Lesousky told the judge.

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 the lesser offense of 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.

Brooks Houck, Rogers' boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, has also been charged with her death. She disappeared in 2015, and her body was never found.

And Lawson's father, Steve Lawson, became the third man arrested in Rogers' case when he was taken into custody earlier this month.

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.

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