![“Judge [Charles] Simms has demonstrated his bias against Mr. Houck”, attorneys wrote in document filed Tuesday.](https://media.whas11.com/assets/WHAS/images/dab9e3d6-118a-4aca-b317-d76409a10880/dab9e3d6-118a-4aca-b317-d76409a10880_1920x1080.jpg)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Attorneys for Brooks Houck - who is facing life in prison after being charged with murder in the case of his former girlfriend Crystal Rogers - are requesting the Nelson County judge presiding over the case be disqualified and replaced.
“Judge [Charles] Simms has demonstrated his bias against Mr. Houck”, attorneys wrote in document filed Tuesday.
The case is unfolding in Nelson County Circuit Court, where Judge Simms has not been lenient on the suspect. He denied a bond reduction request, keeping Houck in jail on a $10 million bond.
RELATED: Crystal Rogers case | Law experts say Nick Houck, brother of Brooks, could be arrested next
In a new court document filed Tuesday, attorney Brian Butler claims “Judge Simms’ behavior with regard to Mr. Houck is such that his impartiality might reasonably be questioned from the perspective of a reasonable observer who is informed on all of the surrounding facts and circumstances.”
The attorney included multiple exhibits -- what he suggests show bias toward Houck.
The attorneys allege the bias extends beyond this case, to a previous custody that Houck was not a party to. It was a case between his significant other Crystal Maupin and her ex-husband. The judge wrote "The court is simply astonished that Crystal would want a relationship with this man [Brooks Houck] who is the prime suspect in the disappearance and presumed death of of his previous girlfriend."
Houck's attorney said in the motion that this proves the judge has had a hostile view of Houck since 2017.
Houck was named the main suspect in Rogers’ disappearance in 2015, when then Sheriff Ed Mattingly said he had eight pages of circumstances that led him to believe Houck was responsible for her disappearance. He was not arrested until September of 2023, when he was indicted and charged with her murder.
“Local law enforcement’s decision to name Houck as the suspect in Ms. Rogers disappearance and to release portions of its investigation to the media served to make Mr. Houck a pariah to many in Nelson County,” Butler wrote. “An environment was intentionally… recklessly created where any Nelson County elected official, including a judge, faces enormous public and social pressure to be adverse to Mr. Houck.”
Attorneys have already asked the Kentucky Court of Appeals to review Judge Simms bond decision. That decision could come in the next several months.
They also asked the court to move quick on this ruling, asking for a new, unbiased judge to be put in place soon.
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