Trial Blog | Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson found guilty in Crystal Rogers' murder | Local News

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WDRB) -- The second trial in the murder of Crystal Rogers is now in its third week in Bowling Green 10 years after she disappeared in Bardstown.

The first two weeks of trial, which you can read about here and here, saw testimony from Rogers' friends and family members, the ex-girlfriend of Steve Lawson's, Joseph Lawson's father, Bardstown business owners and forensic experts.

Brooks Houck is charged with complicity to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence and faces up to 25 years to life in prison. Joseph Lawson is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, facing up to 25 years behind bars.

Below is a running blog of updates from the courtroom. Check back frequently as we report on testimony throughout the trial:

Jury recommends maximum prison sentences for Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson

4 p.m. Tuesday, July 8 — Fallon Glick

The jury recommended maximum sentences for both men: life in prison plus five years for Brooks Houck and 25 years for Joseph Lawson. Both would have to serve 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole.

A final sentencing hearing will held Aug. 21.

Crystal Rogers' daughter gives emotional testimony ahead of sentencing recommendation

2:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 9 — Jason Riley

The sentencing phase us underway with Brooks Houck facing 10-50 years to life in prison. Joseph Lawson is facing up to 25 years in prison. Both would have to serve 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole.

Rogers' daughter, Kyleigh Fenwick, who was 14 when her mother vanished, testified that her mom missed her high school and college graduation and will never see her get married or have kids.

"I've waited a long time for this," she told the jury. "I just want you all to be fair and go with what's in your heart."

Kevin Coleman, an attorney for Lawson, asked the jury for a 10-year total sentence, saying he had a tough upbringing, is confined to a wheelchair and had drug problems.

Steve Schroering, an attorney for Houck, argued there is more doubt in this murder case than most he has covered because there is no body, crime scene or murder weapon. He said jurors can consider that doubt when deciding the sentence.

The jury will continue hearing sentencing testimony after a short break.

Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson found guilty on all charges

1:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 8

After about four hours of deliberation, a Warren County jury found Brooks Houck guilty in the 2015 murder of Crystal Rogers.

The jury of six men and six women found Houck, 43, guilty of complicity to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.

His co-defendant, Joseph Lawson, who was charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, was found guilty on both charges as well.

The 10-day trial, which began June 24, included more than 50 witnesses, testimony about cellphone data, experts on policing, surveillance videos and recorded interrogations, among other evidence.

The trial was moved from Nelson County to Warren County because of the massive amount of local and national publicity over the last decade.

Jury reaches verdict after 4 hours of deliberations

1:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 8

The jury reached a verdict in the Crystal Rogers murder trial after about four hours of deliberations.

Check back here for updates. We'll have the verdict as soon as we can report the information from the courtroom in Bowling Green.

Jury asks to again hear testimony from man who worked for Brooks Houck

11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 8 — Jason Riley

Nearly two hours after they began deliberating, jurors asked for a white board and asked to again hear the first 20 minutes of Charlie Girdley's testimony.

Girdley testified June 30 that Steve Lawson told him once that Brooks Houck was looking to "get rid of his old lady." He said he went drinking with Joseph Lawson on July 3, 2015, the night Rogers disappeared. They left, he said, and met up with Steve Lawson to get his paycheck. Lawson gave his son his keys so Joseph Lawson could work on Rogers' car, putting new brakes and rotors on it.

Later that night, Girdley said Joseph Lawson called him and said he broke down on the Bluegrass Parkway and wanted Girdley to bring him a trailer and come pick him up. Girdley testified he didn't go because he'd been drinking. He did not know what vehicle Lawson was driving.

At some point, Girdley said Joseph Lawson said he'd bury Rogers' car with a skid steer, so it'd never be found.

On cross-examination, Girdley admitted to changing his stories multiple times, lying to investigators and being repeatedly threatened by Kentucky State Police troopers.

He said he was taken to see KSP troopers, who questioned him for more than four hours. During that time, according to a transcript of an interview provided in court Monday, troopers promised to take care of him, promised to get him out of charges and, eventually, threatened him repeatedly and asked him leading questions trying to get different answers.

Girdley said he'd been out drinking and doing drugs before that initial four-hour KSP interview and hadn't slept for five or six days. He told prosecutor Shane Young on Monday that he's clean now and, despite what the transcript shows were possibly coercive interview tactics by KSP, telling the truth on the stand.

"I told the truth," he said on the stand. "What I've testified today is the truth."

Girdley's testimony was played for the jury the courtroom.

Jury begins deliberations after judge issues warning to alternates, spectators

9:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 8 — Jason Riley

The 10th day of the Crystal Rogers trial began Tuesday with the judge paring the jury down from 15 to 12 members. Judge Charles Simms III told the alternate jurors that were dismissed they weren't allowed to talk to the media until the trial is over.

The jury, made up of six men and six women, has now begun deliberating, and, according to the judge, could go until "midnight" if needed. However, Simms told jurors "I hope we don't need to do that."

He also warned spectators in the crowd, most of whom are family of Rogers and Brooks Houck, any kind of outburst is forbidden once the verdict is read in court.

"It's not going to be easy for them in that jury room," Simms said.

At 9:40 a.m., the jury left the courtroom to deliberate.

Prosecution paints Brooks Houck as 'sinister' in closing arguments

5 p.m. Monday, July 7 — Jason Riley and Fallon Glick

Prosecutor Shane Young began his closing arguments Monday afternoon by laying out a timeline of Brooks Houck's lies and whereabouts during the days before and after Crystal Rogers disappeared. Specifically, he focused on Rogers and Houck going to the family farm July 3, 2015.

"If she does not come home July 3 or early July 4, this man committed murder," Young said.

Young pointed out that Houck's version of events given to police for what he did that day was a lie. While saying he'd been driving around doing business July 3, he was actually at the Houck farm most of the day, Young said.

After Rogers disappeared, Houck didn't answer multiple texts and phone calls from her family members but did answer a call from his mother, Rosemary Houck.

At the same time, Steve Lawson deleted several calls with Houck and his son, Joseph Lawson, that night.

"It is nefarious," Young said. "It is sinister."

As for the defense's theory that Rogers left on her own, Young pointed out that Rogers had made plans with friends and her car was seen on the Bluegrass Parkway by two people around 10 p.m. July 3, when she was supposedly still at the farm with Houck.

Also, Young told jurors Houck's brother, Nick Houck, had his cellphone turned off between 11 p.m. July 2 and the middle of the afternoon July 4. He was supposed to be helping his wife move July 3 but told her he was going to help his brother instead. She called Nick Houck 15 times over a 24-hour period.

Nick Houck's phone came back on at 1:47 p.m. July 4. He told his wife he was helping Houck, but Rogers' friends testified she told them Brooks Houck was taking her on a kid-free, romantic night July 3.

"The surprise date was her surprise ending," Young said.

Young said when Brooks Houck woke up July 4, he said Rogers was gone, but he didn't call or text her, instead going back to the farm.

"What he's doing, I don't know," Young said.

Houck had told police when he went to bed July 3, Rogers was playing on her phone. But records show her phone battery died at 9:23 p.m. that night, Young said.

"She left with him," he said. "She didn't come home."

However, while accusing Houck earlier of killing Rogers, Young told jurors he "didn't know who killed her. I'm telling you who was involved."

On July 3, Steve and Joseph Lawson talked on the phone repeatedly, Young said, including a three-minute call at 12:03 a.m. July 4. Immediately after that call, Steve Lawson called Houck for 13 seconds.

"It wasn't about an apartment" as defense attorneys have alleged, Young said.

Over the next two days, Houck only called Rogers a few times and texted her once, Young said, meanwhile ignoring calls from her friends and family.

On July 5, Sherry Ballard, Rogers' mother, saw Brooks Houck at a gas station with Eli, the child he shared with Rogers. She asked Houck if he knew where Rogers was and if she should file a missing person's report. He told her she should. Ballard then went to the Nelson County Sheriff's Department, and Houck went home.

"He's done absolutely nothing to help find this woman," Young said. "He knows there's no sense in it."

Sketches of Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson's Trial

Defense says witness coercion, a lack of evidence prove Brooks Houck is innocent

3:30 p.m. Monday, July 7 — Jason Riley and Fallon Glick

After lunch, defense attorney Brian Butler focused on what Steve Lawson was doing at the time he was supposedly moving Crystal Rogers' car. Butler claimed in his closing arguments that Lawson was trying to find a car on Boston Road that his ex-girlfriend had taken from him. Boston Road runs parallel to Bluegrass Parkway, where Rogers' car was found.

At 11:50 p.m. July 3, the night Rogers disappeared, Butler said Lawson called Capital One while he was apparently in the middle of covering up a murder. At 11:59 p.m., Butler said Lawson searched "capitalone.com" on Google. At the same time this is going on, Butler said Tammy Lawson, his wife at the time, was also calling Capital One and texting her husband that he needed to get the car back from his ex-girlfriend.

"If you look at the science of it, it's ridiculous," Butler said.

Investigators searched the Houck farm, using hundreds of FBI agents, K-9s, divers and drones and found no evidence a murder had been committed, Butler said.

"If something had happened to her out there, they'd have found it," he said. "They found nothing. If that isn't reasonable doubt, I don't know what is."

Butler noted neither Joseph or Steve Lawson's DNA — not even a fingerprint — was found in Rogers' car. Her DNA was found on the steering wheel, he said. Butler also noted the jury didn't hear from the lead FBI agent in the case because he didn't find any evidence. And jurors didn't hear from the main Kentucky State Police investigators because they threatened and coerced witnesses and violated their training in order to get false statement they needed to try to make the case, he said.

"They want you to guess," Butler said. "They want you to fill in gaps they can't fill in because there's no evidence."

Initially, police even told Houck it's possible Rogers car broke down and was then abducted. But they never looked into that theory any further, Butler said.

"Brooks Houck isn't guilty," Butler said. "The truth is they know it."

It's been 10 years, he said, and the only evidence they have is coerced witnesses, incorrect phone data and speculation, which has always been wrong.

"It's time to move on," Butler said. "It's time to send him home to his son. It's fine to find him not guilty."

The prosecution will begin presenting its closing argument Monday afternoon.

Brooks Houck's attorney tells jury 'the whole case is garbage'

1:30 p.m. Monday, July 7 — Jason Riley, Fallon Glick and Valerie Chinn

In his closing arguments, attorney Brian Butler, who represents Brooks Houck, referred to the prosecutions case as a "convoluted mess" with unreliable witnesses, contradictory testimony and data proving Houck wasn't involved.

"The whole case is garbage," Butler told the jury on the ninth day of the trial. "They are just throwing things against the wall."

Butler, who will continue giving his closing argument after a lunch break, methodically went through evidence put forth in the last two weeks, arguing investigators developed tunnel vision and focused on the Houck family almost immediately and then used speculation, weak circumstantial evidence and leaps of faith to try and prove their theory.

"They start with the assumption he is guilty," Butler said.

For example, cellphone data police said showed Steve Lawson near where Crystal Rogers' vehicle was found after she disappeared proved he was on another road, trying to get a vehicle back from an ex-girlfriend.

"There is no phone evidence at all at that shows Steve Lawson went down the Bluegrass Parkway," he said.

Houck tinted his windows shortly before Rogers disappeared because his son had vision problems and had an eye appointment July 6, 2015, Butler said. Her phone was not shut off while she was at the Houck farm the night of July 3, 2015, but ran out of power.

Butler broke down the testimony of multiple witnesses, explaining how they had either been coerced and threatened by police or provided information that he said couldn't possibly be true given the alleged timeline put forth by prosecutors.

The dog handler whose K-9 hit on the scent of human remains in a vehicle owned by the Houck's grandmother was working with a church in Texas, was found by the lead detective at an National Rifle Association convention in Louisville and had lost the documentation on the training of his dog. No DNA was found inside.

Even prosecutors acknowledged "things could have been done better," Butler said, showing jurors a clip of testimony.

As far as Houck's brother, Nick, selling that white Buick shortly before police came looking for it, Butler acknowledged it was a mistake that looked bad but blamed it on the paranoia the family was facing after a video of a statement Brooks Houck gave to police was leaked to the media.

"The Houck family circled the wagons," Butler said, which he explained was why they recorded interviews with police, grand jury testimony and even a discussion with one of their original attorneys.

In addition, Butler blamed this paranoia for why Brooks Houck lied about where he was the day Rogers' disappeared. He had written in a statement that he went to the Houck farm briefly but in fact was there most of the day. He took Rogers there that night and she was never seen again.

Butler said Brooks Houck was fearful that if he told police he worked on the farm all day, he was be accused of digging a hole to bury Rogers.

"They would suspect him more so he minimized" the time he was at the farm that day, Butler said.

He noted no evidence was found at the farm and prosecutors have never found a body, murder weapon, crime scene or even presented a motive for the murder.

Butler said it was Rogers "who moved the car herself in the middle of the night."

Case against Joseph Lawson is a 'witch hunt,' attorney says in closing arguments

11:15 a.m. Monday, July 7 — Jason Riley, Fallon Glick and Valerie Chinn

Closing arguments in the Crystal Rogers murder trial began Monday morning with one of Joseph Lawson's attorneys, Bobby Boyd, pointing out to the jury they've heard relatively little from his defense team in two weeks.

"His name didn't even come up until the third day of trial," Boyd told the jury. "You probably forgot we were on trial the last couple weeks. I've never been in this situation before."

Boyd used his closing arguments to say only a handful of witnesses even mentioned Lawson and most of those weren't credible, as they were bullied, coerced and threatened by Kentucky State Police investigators. He called two of the witnesses who mentioned Joseph Lawson — Charlie Girdley and Heather Snellen — two of the most untrustworthy witnesses he's ever seen.

More importantly, Boyd said, the most concrete evidence presented was phone records showing Lawson was nowhere near the area where Rogers' car was found on the Bluegrass Parkway.

Lawson is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence, accused of agreeing to move Rogers' car before it got a flat tire on the Bluegrass Parkway, where he abandoned it. But countering that narrative, the defense has argued Lawson could have been on Boston Road, which runs parallel to Bluegrass Parkway, rather than up on the freeway. The prosecution has already used cellphone data to place his father, Steve Lawson, on the Bluegrass Parkway.

Detective Tim O'Daniel, a digital forensic expert with the Louisville Metro Police Department, testified during the first week of trial he was never given access to Joseph Lawson's phone like he was given for Brooks Houck and Steve Lawson. Butler said Joseph Lawson called his father three times between 11:06 p.m. July 3 and 12:03 a.m. July 4, and not one of those calls showed up in the cellphone tower data.

Boyd said former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin delivered an edict in 2023 that these cases should be resolved, and Lawson became collateral damage when investigators developed tunnel vision focused only Brooks Houck, Lawson and his father.

"He's just another unfortunate victim in this tragedy," Boyd said.

Boyd went as far as to call the case "a witch hunt" against Joseph Lawson in which there is no DNA evidence, no witnesses tying him to the case and phone records that clear him.

"It's shocking to me," Boyd said.

He implored jurors to use their common sense, look at the phone data, the changing witness statements and "send Joey home."

Brian Butler, an attorney for Houck, will begin his closing arguments next.

Defense for Brooks Houck shows text message he sent to Crystal Rogers after she disappeared

Prosecution in Crystal Rogers murder trial tells jury Brooks Houck's brother, mother were involved