WQXE News
Crystal Rogers was last seen on July 3, 2015.
10 years and five days later, the last person known to have seen her alive has been found guilty of her murder.
A jury of six men and six women at the Warren County Justice Center on Tuesday found Brooks Houck guilty of Murder – Principal or Accomplice and Tampering with Physical Evidence. That same jury found Joseph Lawson guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence.
When court returned Tuesday morning, the three alternate jurors were selected, and the jury was sent to deliberate at 8:36 a.m. CDT. The jurors requested a whiteboard and something to watch videos on, and they briefly returned to the courtroom in order to watch part of prosecution witness Charlie Girdley’s testimony. The jury returned to the courtroom at 2:39 p.m. and the verdicts were announced.
During the sentencing phase that followed, Lawson’s attorney Kevin Coleman asked the jury to consider mitigating factors concerning Lawson including the negative influence Steven Lawson had on his life and his substance abuse problems. Houck’s attorney Steve Schroering noted that Houck does not have any prior criminal history, and he asked the jury to consider that there was no evidence in the case that gives a “comfort level” when considering the punishment.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young said the case was an example of pre-meditated murder, with Houck planning a murder that would make it look like Rogers disappeared, then misled investigators for 10 years. Young asked the jury to consider the Ballard family, in particular Rogers’s children, with Young saying “Their kids won’t have a grandma, all because this man decided their mom needed to disappear.” He said Lawson showed no regard for Rogers and participated in the crime in pursuit of a payday.
The jury only needed to deliberate on their recommendations for about five minutes. They recommended Houck serve a sentence of life in prison on the Murder charge, along with a five year sentence on the Tampering charge, with those sentences to be served consecutively. They also recommended a maximum sentence for Lawson: 20 years on the Conspiracy charge, and five years on the Tampering charge, to be served consecutively.
Houck and Lawson were remanded to the custody of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. They will be formally sentenced at the Nelson County Justice Center on August 21.
Steven Lawson, who was convicted on the same charges as his son in a separate trial on May 30, is due to be sentenced on August 6.
The Louisville Orchestra will be performing a free concert at Freeman Lake Park on Wednesday.
Elizabethtown is the next stop on the orchestra’s “In Harmony” statewide free concert tour.
“We started doing this touring back in November of 2022,” said Louisville Orchestra Tour Manager Elizabeth Etienne. “We received the first appropriation from the state in the summer of 2022, and we’ve been touring ever since, and we really hope to continue to be able to do it for years to come. We all absolutely enjoy doing it.”
The tour has reached 34 counties so far, and provided free concerts to 34,000 Kentuckians.
“This tour really plays to the heart of what the Louisville Orchestra is all about in our mission to really bring a symphony orchestra to every community,” Etienne said. “I think there is this kind of odd misconception that if you’re a symphony orchestra, you play in one concert hall and you ask the people to come to you and you pay a set ticket price, and that is really not what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to break down that barrier, and meet people where they are.”
The Elizabethtown show will feature Muhlenberg County natives Joe Hudson and Shelly Hudson-Bryant.
“We always try to make sure that we highlight music that is really at the heart of what this state does when it comes to the arts, and that includes bluegrass and country, and this concert is absolutely no exception,” Etienne said. “We will be highlighting a piece called “Paradise” by John Prine that specifically calls out Muhlenberg County, and then we will also be playing a piece called “Cannonball Rag” that really leans into the Merle Travis kind of thumb-picking guitar tradition, which should be really, really fantastic.”
The concert will begin at 7:30 at the bandstand at Freeman Lake Park. Tickets aren’t necessary, but you can register for concert updates and alerts at www.louisvilleorchestra.org.
The Elizabethtown City Council met for their first meeting of the month Monday.
Kentucky League of Cities Executive Director J.D. Chaney was on hand to present the KLC Friend of Cities Award, which is presented to legislators who demonstrate strong support for cities and advocate for legislation for them, to State Senator Matt Deneen. He said as part of his current work he is putting an emphasis on public protection.
“We will continue to advocate for supporting our police force, our firemen, and our emergency responders, and we will look for legislation that enhances those areas in every aspect to make sure that the people of the Commonwealth are well taken care of,” Deneen said.
The council approved a municipal order approving the purchase of 415 Pear Orchard Road Northwest, which is part of safety improvements along the Pear Orchard Road corridor.
“To redo Pear Orchard Road, we want to do it in a way that the design is calling for,” said E-Town Mayor Jeff Gregory. “We’re looking at about 85 pieces of right of way, and some of those are going to be houses, from what I understand.”
That’s Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory.
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet July 14.