Attorneys for Crystal Rogers investigation suspect Brooks Houck maintain that he will only get a fair trial if he is tried separately from fellow suspects Joseph and Steven Lawson.
Houck’s defense filed a sur-reply with the Nelson Circuit Court Monday, responding to Special Prosecutor Shane Young’s response to the defense’s initial objection to trying Houck and the Lawsons in the same trial. Young said in a response filed May 16 that it is important to try the three together in order for the jury to see the prosecution’s argument that the three worked together to cover-up the crimes committed.
Houck’s defense maintains in their response that if the three are tried together, Houck will have no way of cross-examining the Lawsons, and he would have no way of discrediting testimony from Steven Lawson Houck’s defense says was “concocted at the behest of law enforcement in hopes of obtaining immunity he was once promised if he ‘told the truth.’” The defense says it would be impossible for the jury to follow instructions that separate rulings on Houck from rulings on the Lawsons.
The defense says any proceedings in a joint trial would ultimately be thrown out as they violate Houck’s Fifth and Sixth amendment rights as well as Kentucky law.
Houck and the Lawsons are scheduled to make their next court appearances at a pre-trial conference set for June 13.
