Jury finds Brooks Houck guilty of murder; recommends a life sentence
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT
Tuesday, July 8, 2025 — A jury of six men and six women deliberated for about four hours Tuesday morning and found Brooks Houck and his co-defendant, Joseph “Joey” Lawson guilty of the charges against them.
The jury found Brooks Houck guilty of the murder of Crystal Rogers on the night of July 3, 2015. They also found him guilty of tampering with physical evidence.
The jury also found Joseph Lawson guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to tampering with evidence.
During the sentencing phase, the jury recommended a life sentence for Houck on the murder charge, and five years on the tampering charge, with both sentences running concurrently.
The jury also recommended the maximum sentence for Joseph Lawson — 20 years on the conspiracy to commit murder and 5 years on the tampering charge.
Both men showed no emotion as the jury’s verdicts were read, nor when the jury presented their recommendations for sentences on their crimes.
When Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III read the verdicts, many members of the Ballard family, friends and supporters cried softly or offered hugs of support to family members.
A PERFECT MURDER — ALMOST. During his closing arguments, Special Prosecutor Shane Young told the jury that Brooks Houck came close to committing the perfect murder of Crystal Rogers.
The murder left no evidence a murder had taken place; there was no body; there was no crime scene, and their was no murder weapon.
But Young suggested that his Houck’s brother, Nick Houck, had a role in her murder.
“Who better to help you commit the perfect murder than a trained police officer?” he asked the jury.
While Young admitted that he didn’t know how or when Crystal Rogers was murdered the night of July 3, 2015, there was on inescapable fact remaining.
“Crystal Rogers and Brooks Houck rode together than evening to the farm, but only Brooks made it home, and that makes him responsible,” he said.
He described the murder as a carefully planned one, designed to make it look like she either left of her own accord or was abducted.
NEXT UP. The jury’s sentence recommendations will be reviewed by Nelson Circuit Judge at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025 in Nelson Circuit Court for final sentencing.
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