The three men charged in the Crystal Rogers investigation made brief appearances in Nelson Circuit Court Thursday.
Brooks Houck, who is charged with Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence, along with Stephen Lawson and Joseph Lawson, who are each charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence, appeared in person for the status hearing. The hearing began about 40 minutes later than scheduled, which Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III said was due to a delay in transferring Joseph Lawson to the courtroom from the Kentucky State Reformatory.
The primary purpose of the hearing was to review the status of discovery in the case. Special Prosecutor Shane Young said more than one terabyte of data has been transferred to the defense attorneys, with less than a terabyte still needing to be transferred. Young said due to the complexity of the case and in order to give the defenses enough time to review, a trial date in 2024 was unlikely. A trial date, subject to counsels completing review, was set for February 10, 2025.
Young said discovery should be completed by mid-March, by which time the prosecution should be ready to submit a motion to join the three cases in order to try all three suspects in the same trial. Houck’s defense also plans to have a motion for a change of venue submitted by that time. A status conference for all three suspects was scheduled for March 21.
Houck and Stephen Lawson then departed the courtroom, after which the court considered a request to reduce Joseph Lawson’s bond from $500,000 to $50,000 with a medical release to home incarceration with GPS monitoring. Lawson’s defense said Lawson is a paraplegic, which limits his independent movement and ability to flee, and having Lawson incarcerated hampers his defense as they said was evidenced by the delay in getting him to the courtroom. The prosecution argued against the reduction, stating that Lawson’s criminal history proves he can’t be trusted to obey orders from the court, and said when Lawson originally learned he was a suspect he began contacting associates to ask them to cover for him and help him create an alibi, so a release runs the risk of allowing Lawson to further obstruct justice. Judge Simms said he would rule on the motion as soon as he could.
