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The defense opened its case as the trial of Crystal Rogers investigation suspects Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson continued at the Warren County Justice Center Wednesday.
Lawson’s attorney Kevin Coleman gave his defense’s opening statement to the jury. Coleman stated that Lawson is not guilty of either of the charges he faces, and described Lawson as “collateral damage” in the Commonwealth’s pursuit of convicting Houck.
The first witness called by Houck’s defense was Heath Farthing, the owner of So-Cal K9 Detection Services. Farthing testified that he does not recommend cross-training search dogs for both live searches and human remains detection, noting that many organizations including FEMA began not recommending the cross-training after the majority of cross-trained dogs used at Ground Zero following the September 11th attacks were signaling for live rescues when they had actually found deceased victims. When asked about the search conducted by Terry Benjamin’s dog in May of 2016 that involved a vehicle owned by Houck’s grandmother Anna Whitesides, Farthing testified that forensic processing the vehicle ahead of the search “absolutely” could have impacted the reliability of the search, as could Benjamin and the K9 being driven to the search by Detective Jamie Brooks.
Rhonda McIlvoy, Houck’s sister, was called to the stand. She testified that Houck and Rogers’s son Eli was born with an underdeveloped optic nerve in one of his eyes which has led to multiple treatment attempts and complications, including five trips to urgent care facilities in the last 21 months. She testified that she, her husband, and children were in Louisville on July 3, 2015, with a picture of her children standing next to the Louisville Slugger bat in downtown Louisville time stamped shortly after 7 p.m. submitted into evidence. When asked by the defense if she was part of a conspiracy, McIlvoy answered “No.” She also testified that she had no knowledge of Houck being involved with a conspiracy. On cross examination, the prosecution asked McIlvoy about the secret recordings she made of her grand jury testimony. She testified that at the time she was not aware of what the grand jury was, and wanted a record of what she said so her words couldn’t be later used against her.
University of Louisville Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Adrian Lauf was called to testify as an expert in cell phone analysis. Lauf testified that data from NELOS, the location data system AT&T uses for devices on its network, is consistent with Steven Lawson’s phone being on Boston Road, and he testified that the Bluegrass Parkway is too far from the towers the data indicates the phone connected to. During cross examination, Special Prosecutor Shane Young questioned Lauf’s data, indicating at least one inaccuracy in his report and noting testimony Lauf made in a previous case in which he questioned the reliability of NELOS. Lauf testified that he reviews data he is presented with on a case-by-case basis.
The defense will continue its case Thursday. Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III told the jury he believes closing statements and jury instructions will be delivered Monday, with jury deliberations beginning Tuesday.
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