The prosecution has closed its case as the trial of Crystal Rogers Investigation suspect Steven Lawson wrapped up its third day Thursday.
The prosecution’s first witness of the day was Mike Cchafer, who while working as a special agent with the FBI conducted an interview with Lawson at the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office on August 6, 2020, clips were played from that interview for the jury. During cross examination, defense attorney Darren Wolff asked Schafer about his involvement with interviewing Brooks Houck’s brother Nick, who was an officer with the Bardstown Police Department at the time of Rogers’s disappearance. Schafer testified that the FBI had reason to believe Nick Houck was involved in the disappearance, but he denied it in his interview with Schafer. Special Prosecutor Shane Young on redirect asked Schafer if it would surprise him to know that Nick Houck and Rosemary Houck, mother to Brooks and Nick, are “unindicted co-conspirators” in the case, to which Schafer said it would not.
The prosecution then called Nelson County Jailer Justin Hall, and two phone calls made by Lawson from the jail were played for the jury. The first recording was a call between Lawson and his mother from January 5, 2024, during which Lawson’s mother asked him about his involvement with Rogers’s disappearance. When his mother asked why he took Joseph Lawson to get Crystal Rogers’s car, Lawson said he didn’t know and “I should have said something right then.”
The second call was on January 9, 2024, between Lawson and an unidentified recipient. Lawson said “You’re saying I did something I didn’t do. I didn’t move a body.” and “There’s no premeditation on my end. I know that.” The person on the call said Lawson had knowledge of the crime and never went to police, saying “You knew for eight (expletive) years.”
The prosecution then closed its case, having called 12 total witnesses. After Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III denied a motion for acquittal made by the defense, proceedings broke for lunch before the defense called its first witness: Dr. Karl Reich, who testified as an expert witness on forensic DNA and was asked about what value DNA testing has to an investigation. Reich was previously called to testify by the defense when they were pushing to get two hairs found in Crystal Rogers’s car tested.
The defense has at least two more witnesses to call, but they were unavailable Thursday. The defense will continue its case Friday.
