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The jury has been selected for the joint trial of Crystal Rogers investigation suspects Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson.

15 jurors were selected from an initial pool of 132 at the Warren County Justice Center Tuesday for the trial. Those 15 jurors will be presented with the witness testimony and evidence presented at the trial, after which 12 jurors will deliberate.

Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III began the day by reviewing some of the background information on the case, including the indictments against Houck and Lawson. The potential jurors were then given a questionnaire that separated them into four groups: those who had never heard of the case, those who had heard of the case but didn’t know specifics, those who knew about the case and some specifics but didn’t have an opinion, and those who knew of the case and specifics and had formed an opinion. Jurors in the middle two groups were then questioned by the judge, prosecution, and defense on their knowledge of the case, with several jurors who either had knowledge of the trial of Steven Lawson or had seen coverage of the investigation including podcasts and documentaries excused. After the pool was narrowed down to 39 jurors, additional jurors were removed following questions from the prosecution and defense, and the 15 jurors for the trial were randomly selected from the remaining pool.

Simms said in his initial introduction to the jury that the trial was expected to last 10 days, which would take it to July 8. More than 50 potential witnesses who may be called were named by the prosecution and defense.

Houck is charged with Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence. Lawson is charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence. The trial will begin with opening statements Wednesday morning.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.

The fiscal court approved a resolution that amended the Hardin County Administrative Code. After an amendment to the resolution presented by Magistrate Chris Yates removed policies concerning take-home vehicles and social media, Magistrate Kenny Saltsman said the amendment only changed policy concerning the use of county facilities by for-profit businesses.

After the administrative code amendment was approved, Yates then reintroduced the policy changes for take-home vehicles and social media as a resolution amending the county’s personnel policies and procedures, which the court also approved. Hardin County Judge/Executive Keith Taul said the limits on take-home vehicles interfered with necessary work for county employees, and the social media policy restricts communication and interaction with county offices.

“These restrictions not only lack transparency, but are the opposite of transparency,” Taul said. “The opposite of communication.”

Magistrate Aaron Pennington said the social media policy change addresses concerns that have been previously raised, and said directing social media traffic to one page allows for more clear messaging.

“The other pages were created when we took office,” Pennington said. “They weren’t here under the previous administration. There’s a reason for that, and I brought to your attention some of the reasons why we don’t need to have a bunch of different pages. It’s not supervised efficiently by a bunch of different people in different departments. We have a person for this reason, and it makes sense for that person to be in charge of social media in general.”

In other meeting news, the first reading of an amendment to the county’s ethics ordinance was held. The Hardin County Coroner’s Office responded to 181 cases in April and May, and the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office made 181 arrests, issued 301 citations, and served 160 warrants in those two months.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet July 8.