WQXE News
A hearing in Nelson Circuit Court Thursday that was supposed to involve Crystal Rogers investigation suspect Steven Lawson giving an answer on whether or not he was waving evidentiary protection ended with Lawson dismissing his attorney.
Judge Charles Simms III called the hearing to order and was calling on defense attorney Ted Lavit to discuss his motion filed Wednesday not to waive the protection, which would mean the prosecution could not use footage of Lawson’s interviews with police. Lawson then raised his hand and asked to speak to the judge, and after Simms cautioned that anything he said was being recorded into record Lawson said he did not believe Lavit was properly representing him and wanted a new attorney.
Special Prosecutor Teresa Young said she supported Lawson’s request because the prosecution had “serious concerns about whether Mr. Lawson has had conflict-free counsel in his representation.” Young said on August 4 Lawson said in a call from jail that he had fired Lavit because he said the attorney had a meeting with attorneys for Brooks Houck “behind his back,” so the prosecution was surprised Lavit made another motion in the case when they were expecting him to withdraw. Young also said the prosecution has noticed peculiarities dating back to March in the similarities of Lawson and Houck’s filings with the court including quotes, misquotes, and paraphrasing. Young said “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I know that it’s something that I think the court needs to inquire about. It’s disturbing.”
Lavit said he was never personally told that he had been dismissed, and said “I have done my best at this point in time without any conflict whatsoever concerning my client, and I believe Mr. Lawson has been aware of what I’ve been doing on his behalf since he engaged.”
Lawson said he could not afford an attorney at this time, and Simms ordered for a public defender to be appointed within the next two weeks. Lavit said he would turn over his file to the new attorney.
Pet Supplies Plus in Elizabethtown is once again raising support for the Hardin County Animal Shelter.
“Science Diet is again sponsoring a contest where the top 10 shelters in the country with the most monetary donations will win 500 pounds of Science Diet pet food,” said Pet Supplies Plus co-owner Renee Otjen. “We won it last year for the shelter and we’re hoping that we can win it again.”
All funds raised from customers as they check out will benefit the shelter.
“As they’re checking out, customers just let the cashier know that they’d like to make a monetary donation to the shelter and they will include it with their purchase, and it’s as simple as that,” Otjen said. “At the end of the month, we’ll be giving all those monetary donations in the form of a Pet Supplies Plus gift card to the shelter for them to use.”
Otjen says Pet Supplies Plus‘s support for the animal shelter is part of the store’s efforts to support animal adoption in the area.
“We partner with the Hardin County Animal Shelter,” Otjen said. “We always have a cat that we’re fostering for them for adoption, and then in addition to having them come monthly with dogs for adoption from the shelter we also partner with the Bun Bun Brigade rabbit rescue, we partner with the Hardin County Community Cat Rescue, and then Forever Homes for PAWS also holds adoption events.”
The fundraiser runs through August 31.
The public is invited to the grand opening of A Plus Family Healthcare’s new Elizabethtown office Friday.
“Our grand opening will be this Friday, August 9 at our Dolphin Hills location right here in Elizabethtown from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” said A Plus Family Healthcare Marketing Director Meighan Cable. “We’ll have our Chamber of Commerce friends there, friends from the KPCA and all of our A Plus locations, and it is open to the public. We would love to give people tours of our new facility so that they can feel comfortable as new patients and welcome us into Elizabethtown.”
The new A Plus clinic took on the clients from the Community Health Clinic as well as the Dolphin Health Family Practice. Cable says A Plus is focused on serving those patients and reaching out to new ones.
“We’re seeing so many new patients as well, on top of those two merger companies coming over to us, and it’s really been an incredible sight to see the people from Hardin County getting that quality and affordable healthcare from us,” Cable said.
Cable says A Plus Family Healthcare offers an affordable general family practice for all ages “from birth all the way to your grave.”
“When it comes to our affordability, we do have our sliding fee scale, which is based off of the federal poverty guidelines., and so we’re able to make sure that we take care of the constituents of Harding County as well as Brownville and Sonora, where our two other locations are,” Cable said.
The Elizabethtown clinic is located at 3046 Dolphin Drive. Find A Plus Family Healthcare on Facebook or the web for more information.
Steven Lawson and Joseph Lawson are scheduled to make appearances in court Thursday, with Steven Lawson’s attorney submitting an additional filing ahead of the hearing.
The Lawsons and their attorneys will appear before Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III for a status hearing regarding separate trials for the Lawsons and fellow suspect Brooks Houck.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young filed a motion to join the trials of the three suspects in order to best present the argument to the jury that the three worked together to cover up crimes committed in the disappearance of Crystal Rogers. Attorneys for Houck objected to the motion to join as they say it would take away Houck’s ability to cross-examine Steven Lawson, and they say Lawson’s testimony was given in exchange for a promise of immunity.
At a previous hearing, Judge Simms said prior to ruling on the motion to join he wanted to know if Steven Lawson planned to waive evidentiary protection, which would allow the prosecution to include Lawson’s statements made during police interviews in the trial. In a response filed Wednesday, Lawson’s attorney Ted Lavit questions the need for Lawson to make a decision on waiving the protection this far ahead of trial and asks the judge to postpone the request. Lavit says if the judge wants an answer now, Lawson is not willing to waive the protection at this time.
Thursday’s hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Nelson Circuit Court.