Brooks Houck’s attorneys argue for separate trail in Crystal Rogers case

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Monday, July 8, 2024 — Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III heard arguments in court this morning to hear arguments by Brooks Houck’s attorneys regarding a motion for a separate trial in the Crystal Rogers murder case.

Prosecutors have asked the court to try the three co-defendants — Houck, Steve Lawson and his son, Joey Lawson — together in a single trial.

In court today, Houck’s attorneys argued that combining the trials would deny their client the right to question the statements made to investigators by Steve Lawson. According to the defense attorneys, it is Lawson’s testimony that prosecutors will look to in order to prove their case against Houck.

His attorneys presented video excerpts from dozens of hours of Kentucky State Police interviews with Steve Lawson in order to illustrate their claim that investigators — desperate to make a case against Houck — guided Lawson during hours of interviews to gradually make his statements match what the investigators needed Lawson to say.

The defense team highlighted multiple “smoke breaks” Lawson took with two KSP investigators outside the interview room and outside the range of the recording equipment. Some of those breaks lasted more than an hour. The attorneys pointed to parts of the conversations following the breaks as evidence that some of the conversation during those breaks focused on questions investigators had for Lawson and the testimony they needed from him.

Defense attorneys pointed to the question Steve Lawson posed to investigators after hours of interrogation: “What the hell do you want me to say?”

In video provided by the defense, Lawson’s responses changed as the interviewers pressed him for more detail, promising him that if he is honest, he will be granted immunity, which one investigator called “a deal of lifetime.”

If Houck is tried with Steve Lawson and Joey Lawson, attorneys argued it will prohibit Houck’s defense from probing Lawson’s statements and how they evolved over the hours during which he was interrogated.

Due process mandates a separate trial, the defense concluded.

Prosecutors said Lawson’s attorney was present during some of the longer breaks, and he was speaking with his client, resulting in the extra time they took for those breaks. They added that Lawson made incriminating statements to other witnesses about the case.

The prosecution said that much of what Lawson said in interviews is not admissible in a trial at all — no matter if its all three defendants or just Houck — due to Kentucky court rules disallowing testimony obtained during plea agreements or negotiations.

“It makes no sense to me why you need a separate trial in order to explain statements that are not going to be used against your client,” prosecutor Teresa Young told the court. “[The statements] are simply not going to be utilized.”

Judge Simms told both parties he would review the matter. Before he ruled on the issue, he said he would hear defendant Joey Lawson’s motions, including one for a separate trial, in Nelson Circuit Court on July 18, 2024.

NEXT UP. Defendant Joey Lawson has a status hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, July 19, 2024, in Nelson Circuit Court.

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