LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Nelson County judge ruled Monday that the trials of Brooks Houck and his two co-defendants for the murder of Crystal Rogers will be held in Warren County, currently scheduled for early next year.

It is still unknown if they will be tried together or separate.

In March, the prosecutor, Shane Young, agreed with a motion filed by attorneys for 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.

They have been looking outside the Louisville and Lexington media markets at counties "demographically" similar to Nelson. The attorneys had agreed on either Warren or Christian counties.

In his ruling Judge Chares Simms III wrote that under state law, when moving a trial, "the change shall be made to the nearest county to which there is no valid objection."

Specifically, the trial will be held at the Warren County Judicial Center in Bowling Green, which is about two hours south of Louisville. 

A 2019 theft case in which Houck was accused of stealing more than 200 bundles of roofing shingles from a Lowe's store in Nelson County was previously moved to Bowling Green. 

A jury found Houck not guilty. 

The men are scheduled to be tried on Feb. 10, 2025, but Steve Lawson just acquired new attorneys who have hinted that they will likely file a motion to delay the trial, given the amount of evidence in the case.

The next hearing scheduled has been set for Oct. 25.

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.

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