#quicksie983
Lawyers for Crystal Rogers investigation suspect Steven Lawson told Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III that testing hairs found in the victim’s car is part of Lawson’s due process, while Special Prosecutor Shane Young said testing the hairs does nothing but unnecessarily delay Lawson’s trial.
The two sides were back in Nelson Circuit Court Monday morning to argue the defense’s desire to see the hairs tested despite Young withdrawing his motion during an April 3 hearing after he said analysis from the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab showed the hairs in question could not belong to either Steven Lawson or his son Joseph Lawson, who is also a suspect in the case.
Lawson’s attorneys submitted case examples to argue that Lawson “has a fundamental right to due process, which includes the right to present evidence of an alternative perpetrator.” In a supplemental brief filed with the court April 12, the defense said several identified persons of interest over the course of the case, such as fellow suspect Brooks Houck’s brother Nick Houck, could be identified through testing the hairs, and said “it is not inconceivable that someone could have come along who was involved in the alleged conspiracy to tamper with the automobile after Steven Lawson and co-defendant Joseph Lawson allegedly abandoned the automobile (but prior to law enforcement first locating the automobile).”
Young said Nick Houck’s hair has already been tested and said he could not be the contributor of the hairs in question. Young stated, as he did when he withdrew the motion at the previous hearing, that he did not want to waste money testing the hairs when the hairs could not belong to the Lawsons, and said “the simple fact that someone else’s DNA is in the vehicle is not exculpatory.”
Simms took the matter under submission and asked the prosecution and defense to submit any additional materials within 48 hours as he would like to make a ruling this week.
The Elizabethtown City Council met for a work session Monday evening.
City Natural Gas Department Director Matthew Hobbs provided a report on his department. He said the department is fully staffed with 14 employees, and the department comes into 2025 with a “solid budget.”
“The biggest ticket item that we’ve got on that is a ‘de-hy,’ so that’s basically a unit that’s drying your gas as you’re pulling it out of the storage field,” Hobbs said. “Ours, I think, dates back to sometime mid-late 90s.”
Hobbs says while business has remained consistent, customer growth has stagnated.
“The industrial pool is still strong and holding pretty steady,” Hobbs said. “That makes up about 50 percent of our flow, so the amount or the volume of gas we’re using is staying pretty consistent, but that customer number is not going up.”
The city is in the beginning stages of a natural gas rate study, with data collection currently under way.
Representatives from Hope Academy for Kids presented on the organization’s services. Resource Development Coordinator Dara Bryant discussed additional efforts to support program members and their families.
“To better assist, Hope Academy has become part of a nationwide effort to end family homelessness,” Bryant said. “In 2024, we became a program site for Bridge of Hope, and I’m excited to share that we are the first and only program site for Bridge of Hope in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
Bryant said statistics show 1 in 30 children in the United States struggle with homelessness each year.
Members of Scout Troop 221 led the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the meeting. The members then stayed after the meeting for a question and answer session with the mayor and council members.
The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet April 21.