BARDSTOWN, Ky. — A Nelson County judge has yet to rule on whether to dismiss charges against Steve Lawson for his alleged role in the death of Crystal Rogers.
Lawson is charged with conspiracy to murder and tampering with physical evidence.
His attorney, Ted Lavit, argues Lawson was promised immunity for his cooperation with police. Judge Charles Simms said attorneys were “going in circles” discussing the matter on Thursday.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young confirmed the immunity agreement was made verbally with Lawson, not in writing. But he said the deal was only available if Lawson was 100% truthful and there were no omissions to his story.
Young told the judge Lawson failed to meet these conditions.
Lavit provided the judge with a flash drive containing hours of interrogations asking Simms to consider the totality of all the statements regarding immunity. But he couldn’t point to specific instances where the criteria of the deal was different than what Young detailed.
Evidence shown in court
Young said although there are some statements Lawson has made that are truthful, he claims Lawson has increasingly minimized his role in Rogers’ death.
In court Thursday, Young played several audio and video clips from interviews with Lawson that he says showed inconsistencies in his story.
“He told us he was involved in helping with the eventual murder of Crystal Rogers,” Young argued, but said there were statements Lawson made that were truthful. He added the state has evidence and witness testimony to support which statements were false.
In a phone call from jail, Lawson can be heard saying he messed up his deal.
“It’s an admission,” Young proclaimed.
Young believes Lawson's ex-wife Tammy, who has since passed away, had knowledge of Rogers’ death and was involved in the plot to kill her.
Young also claims she was there on the Bluegrass Parkway when the Lawsons were moving Rogers’ car.
In another clip, Lawson appears to switch course, telling police his ex-wife wasn’t there with him and his son Joseph Lawson.
Young also played clips where Lawson was questioned about whether he knew about the plan to move Rogers’ car. In one interview Lawson claims to have known it was going to the Bluegrass Parkway, but in other interviews he claims to have no knowledge.
Series of inconsistencies
More clips showed investigators questioning about a Bobcat, sometimes referred to as a skid steer. Lawson tells police he had left it by a tree and that Joseph stole it when he went back to get it. But in that same interview, Young notes that Lawson claims to have never seen the Bobcat in five years.
Young provided the judge with a transcript of an unrecorded interview in which Lawson said the bobcat was being used near Thompson Hill Road around the same time Rogers disappeared.
According to Young, Lawson said “they were burning and digging” something near there.
Young also disputes that Lawson was being truthful about his relationship with Brooks Houck.
The prosecutor said Lawson told police he didn’t work with Houck and would only speak to him in passing.
However, Young provided the court with phone records showing there were 24 phone calls between the two men between a two-month period, which had been deleted from their phones.
“Our agreement was 100% truthfulness and no omissions, which I think in those four examples you see that the defendant was not truthful,” Young concludes.
Attorneys also discussed the late-night phone call Lawson made to Houck in summer 2015, around the time Rogers was reported missing.
Lavit asserts the call was about finding an apartment, but Young interjected, saying Lawson testified to a grand jury that the call was about informing Houck “the job was done.”
Young said there is a “game of charades” between Lawson and Houck that’s been going on for the past eight years.
“We did everything the Commonwealth was asking for,” Lavit said. “It led to the charges against Brooks Houck and Joey Lawson.”
‘Well, what do you want?’
After the hearing, Lavit spoke to reporters outside the courtroom. He said Lawson was trying to give prosecutors what they wanted during interrogations.
“They would tell him, you’re messing up, you’re not telling us – you’re not giving us this,” Lavit said. “Well, what do you want him to do?”
Lawson believes the prosecution was throwing his client off, and there were several alleged distractions during the interrogations, including several lengthy smoke breaks.
“We’d go in the hall, talk about it, learned what [prosecutors] wanted, go back in and try to tell the truth,” Lavit claimed. “They kept putting pressure on an uneducated person to come up with what they wanted.”
Judge Simms did not rule on dismissing the charges against Lawson, nor what testimony wouldn’t be allowed at trial. A ruling is expected in the coming days.
Another hearing in the Crystal Rogers case is scheduled for July 8 to discuss whether to combine the trials for all three suspects charged in her death.
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.