The judge in the cases of the Crystal Rogers investigation suspects has ordered for a separate trial for one of the defendants.
Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III ordered Tuesday that Steven Lawson will be tried separately while the trials for Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson shall be consolidated.
Simms said in the order that while the prosecution intends to introduce Steven Lawson’s grand jury testimony and redact Joseph Lawson and Brooks Houck’s names, attorneys for Joseph Lawson and Houck intend to introduce Steven Lawson’s interviews with investigators that the prosecution has stipulated are inadmissible against him in order to show inconsistencies in Lawson’s testimony. The court found that in a joint trial, the jury would never hear of the inconsistencies between Steven Lawson’s police interviews and his grand jury testimony without hearing both, which would cause undue prejudice against Houck and Joseph Lawson.
Attorneys for Houck argued that if he is tried with Joseph Lawson he will not be able to use two police interviews Lawson had with police, but the court found that because Joseph Lawson’s interviews did not result in any admissible evidence being presented to a grand jury, the interviews are irrelevant at trial. In responding to arguments submitted by Joseph Lawson’s attorneys, the court found that because the trials will be moved to Warren County, because there is no evidence of “spillover evidence”, and because Houck has not implicated Joseph Lawson of any wrongdoing, their cases can be consolidated.
The trial for Steven Lawson is scheduled for February 10, although his attorneys have indicated they are not sure they will be ready in time for that date. Houck and Joseph Lawson will appear in court on December 5 to discuss a new trial date.
