Prosecutor: Request to delay Crystal Rogers' murder trial to test hairs is a 'fishing expedition'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Attorneys for one of three defendants charged in the murder of Crystal Rogers argued Monday that a mistake made in not performing DNA testing on two hairs found in Rogers’ car in 2015 should be remedied by delaying his May 27 trial and completing the testing.

Steve Lawson “has a fundamental right through due process to have these hairs tested,” said attorney Zach Buckler in Nelson Circuit Court. “The fact that these two (hairs) were not tested is not because the testing is not feasible, it’s simply because it wasn’t done.”

But special prosecutor Shane Young called the request a “fishing expedition,” and argued that finding someone else’s hair in the vehicle wouldn’t prove anything.

“The presence of any other individual’s hairs … does nothing, absolutely nothing” to clear Lawson of a crime, he said. “What will we gain from testing these hairs? What is the relevance of it?"

Young, in fact, said he is to blame for the uproar over the untested hairs, telling the judge he “freaked out” when he found they had not been tested because they may belong to the defendants.

But on Monday, Young said he was ignorant of the initial analysis of the hairs and didn’t realize they were too long to be either Steve Lawson or his son and co-defendant, Joseph Lawson’s, hair.

Now, he said, this mistake could cost more than $30,000 for DNA testing that would be “meaningless” because the Lawsons have admitted being in Crystal’s car.

Steve Lawson has told investigators both he and his son were in Rogers' vehicle after she disappeared in July 2015. He said Joseph Lawson, "drove Crystal's vehicle west on the Bluegrass (Parkway) to, I believe it was Mile Marker 14 or 16, where he had a flat tire."

His former attorney said Steve Lawson picked his son up and also removed a miniature Louisville Slugger bat from the vehicle.

Rogers was last seen with her boyfriend, Brooks 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.

It would not be surprising to find Houck’s hair in the vehicle.

Young also argued it would be unfair to Rogers' family to delay Steve Lawson’s trial for a second time to test the hairs.

One expert testified on Monday that the DNA testing could take several months.

However, an attorney for Steve Lawson argued his rights would be violated if the testing wasn’t done, and that attorneys were not currently arguing the relevance of the hairs.

“This is a purely legal argument,” Buchler said, arguing it would be premature to argue who the hairs belong to and what it would mean, but that Steve Lawson had a right to have the evidence tested.

Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III said he would rule sometime this week.

Steve Lawson is scheduled to stand trial in Warren County in May, with Houck and Joseph Lawson set for June.

Both trials were moved out of Nelson County because of the massive amount of publicity surrounding the case.

Steve Lawson, according to a Dec. 6, 2023, 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.

Joseph Lawson pleaded not guilty in September 2023 to criminal conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the Rogers case. He isn't charged with Rogers' murder but is charged him with conspiracy, meaning they believe he was involved in some way with Rogers' killer.

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