BARDSTOWN, Ky. — After a two-hour hearing on Monday, no decision has been made on whether Brooks Houck should be tried separately for his alleged role in Crystal Rogers death.
Houck is accused of killing Rogers, his then girlfriend, in 2015 and hiring two men – Joseph and Steve Lawson – to help him cover up the Bardstown mother’s death.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young wants all three men prosecuted together in one trial. Houck’s attorney, Brian Butler, presented evidence in court Monday attempting to show that combining the trials would be unfair to Houck and ultimately end with an appeal.
Prosecutor Teresa Young spoke first during the hearing in Nelson County, explaining why a joint trial is preferred.
“Joint trials favor consistent testimony, joint trials preserve government resources, joint trials avoid forcing victim’s families to re-live trauma,” she said.
Crystal Rogers’ mother, children and team of community supporters sat stoically behind the prosecution. They’ve shared that very fear, that hearing the details of Rogers’ death once will be hard enough, but to have to hear it three times would be almost unbearable.
“All the defendants are charged out of the same set of facts, same set of circumstances in the murder of Crysal Rogers,” Young said.
Butler said Steve Lawson is the prosecution’s star witness, arguing that he’s the one who brings the whole story together on the alleged cover up. He said if Houck is tried with them, the defense won’t have a chance to cross examine Steve Lawson.
“Our defense is Mr. Houck did not commit this crime and Steve Lawson is lying,. He has to be afforded a meaningful opportunity to present a defense,” Butler argued. “If there’s ever a case that shouldn’t be joined, it’s this one."
Read the full motion from Houck's attorney objecting to combined trials:
Can't access the PDF embed above on mobile? Click here to read the full document.
Using at least an hour’s worth of footage between detectives and Steve Lawson, Butler hoped to prove the police fed Lawson a story. Butler claims Lawson told an FBI informant Houck was innocent.
“In a secret recording,” he argued. “Steve Lawson said ‘I don’t think Brooks Houck had anything to do with it.’”
But over the years, and throughout nearly 20 hours of police interviews, Butler said that story changed.
He said when Lawson’s answers didn’t match the detectives’ story, they would redirect him.
“The problem with this, as the court knows, is that the detectives in their minds have decided what the truth is,” he said. “They know they’re not supposed to say that, but my guess is there’s so much pressure to solve this case, they think they’re doing the right thing.”
Butler also highlighted several lengthy smoke breaks that happened during the police interviews with Steve Lawson, which Young argued that some of the time was spent between Lawson and his attorney.
Houck’s attorney argued that if the cases are tried together, Lawson won’t be called to testify and the defense won’t be able to cross examine him, revealing the police interrogation tactics and make a case that Lawson was fed lies.
When Young returned to the podium, she called the defense's argument "clear as mud."
She said the prosecution had no plans to use Steve Lawson's grand jury testimony. "It makes no sense to me why you need a separate trial to defend statements that are coming in against your client, when it’s not coming in,” Young added.
Judge Charles Simms did not make a ruling on Monday.
He will decide whether to combine the trials after Joseph Lawson’s next hearing on July 18 to give his attorney a chance to respond to the prosecution’s motion.
The court has also yet to decide where the upcoming trial will take place.
Attorneys previously agreed on Christian County for next year’s trial, but the judge didn’t approve of the choice. He told attorneys he wasn’t sold on security for the jurors. Attorneys told WHAS11 that Christian County isn’t fully ruled out, but Simms has asked for other options.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.