BARDSTOWN, Ky. — It’s still unclear whether all three men charged Crystal Rogers' death will be tried together next February.
Joseph Lawson’s attorneys are hoping Nelson County Judge Charles Simms will make a decision Friday when Lawson and his father, Steven Lawson, are back in court.
The Lawsons are charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in the Bardstown mother's death. Rogers' ex-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, is also charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Joseph Lawson’s attorneys filed a motion to keep his trial separate back in April. Last Friday, they filed a supplemental motion urging the judge to keep the trials severed.
RELATED: Trial for suspects charged in Crystal Rogers' death will be moved 100 miles south of Bardstown
Attorneys argue Lawson would not receive a fair trial otherwise since he couldn't cross-examine either of his codefendants.
Steve Lawson has refused to waive his evidentiary protection, meaning only his grand jury testimony will be heard at his trial.
A copy of all those grand jury statements will be provided to the court on Oct. 25, Joseph Lawson's attorneys said.
“While confessing that he moved Crystal Rogers’ car, he further implicates Joseph Lawson by testifying that [his son] did it with him, that he saw a Louisville Slugger baseball bat inside the car [which belonged to Joseph Lawson],” they add.
Even if Steve Lawson took the stand, Joseph Lawson’s attorneys argue evidence would be present to the jury which would be inadmissible in his father’s case. Based on those grand jury statements, Joseph Lawson's attorneys said Steve Lawson will have to pursue an "antagonistic defense" against his son.
“He makes every effort to absolve himself of as much blame as possible and lay the blame on his son,” attorneys said. “A joint trial between the father-son duo will only result in irreparable prejudice to one at the expense of the other, or to both.”
Joseph Lawson’s attorneys also argue media coverage of Rogers’ disappearance would negatively influence a jury.
“[Jurors] would be influenced by the preconceived notions and biases created by Brooks Houck’s case,” attorneys said. “Which would inevitably influence their assessment of Joseph Lawson’s case.”
Lawson's attorneys also argue the bulk of the more than one terabyte’s worth of evidence in Rogers’ case is “irrelevant” to his case and would do nothing more than have a “prejudicial spillover effect.”
According to the motion, discovery in Rogers' case includes evidence from multiple state and federal law enforcement agencies spanning the last eight years and contains more than 300 separate folders for different witnesses.
“It is still unclear how the government believes it could introduce these statements while simultaneously respecting the constitutional rights of all the defendants,” Lawson's attorneys said. "This Court has to assume that the government cannot present these statements without implicating Joseph Lawson."
Judges typically don’t sever trials because of the burden it puts on the victim's family to go through multiple trials and the burden on taxpayers who pay for travel expenses to move court personnel to another county.
However, Lawson's attorneys argue more time will be spent at a joint trial for each defendant to cross-examine the same witnesses in an attempt to prove "their respective theories of the case through those witnesses."
“A joint trial in this case would be economical in name only,” they said.
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