LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A judge has denied a request from prosecutors to try Brooks Houck and his two co-defendants together for the murder of Crystal Rogers.

Nelson County Judge Charles Simms III ruled Tuesday that co-defendant Steve Lawson will be tried separately because he has given hours of "ever evolving," or contradictory, testimony regarding what happened to Rogers.

However, Houck and another co-defendant, Joseph Lawson, the son of Steve Lawson, will be tried together, Simms ruled.

Steve Lawson will be tried first, currently scheduled for Feb. 10 in Warren County.

Attorneys for Houck have argued it would be "unfair" and close to impossible to put Houck and Steve Lawson on trial together given Lawson has provided about 20 hours of contradictory testimony and information about the case. Unless he testified at a joint trial, Houck would be unable to confront Lawson about the lies, they argued. 

Simms, who has deemed Lawson's testimony as "wildly inconsistent," agreed, ruling that it would be unfair if a jury only heard some of Lawson’s testimony in a joint trial. 

"If there were any convictions from a joint trial, those convictions could be subject to reversal," Simms ruled.

A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 5 to determine when Brooks and Joseph Lawson will stand trial.

Joseph Lawson also requested a separate trial, but Simms ruled that none of his statements implicate Houck as being involved with Rogers' disappearance.

In addition, Joseph Lawson argued that the negative media coverage surrounding Houck would be prejudicial to him.

Simms ruled that while he "recognizes that there is tremendous animosity toward Houck in Nelson County, this Court certainly believes that Houck and J. Lawson will obtain a fair and impartial trial in Warren County."

Steve Lawson was initially promised immunity if he provided truthful information about Rogers disappearance. But during hours of interviews with investigators and in front of a grand jury, he changed his story repeatedly.

Prosecutor Shane Young had asked the judge to join the cases into one trial since they are alleged to have "acted in concert to accomplish the murder of Crystal Rogers and to dispose of evidence which would conceal the murder."

Young argued Lawson lied repeatedly to minimize his own part in the case, and Simms previously found that recordings of Lawson's interviews with investigators "clearly establish that Lawson provided wildly inconsistent information."

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 whomever killed Rogers.

The maximum sentence for the conspiracy charge is 10-20 years in prison.

In addition, the indictment charges Joseph 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.

This story may be updated. 

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