Prosecution rests in Houck-Lawson trial

After five days of testimony from 38 witnesses, the prosecution rested its case in the trial of Crystal Rogers investigation suspects Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson Tuesday.

The prosecution showed a recorded deposition of Terry Benjamin with Lone Star Search and Rescue. He testified that on May 21, 2016, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Jamie Brooks picked Benjamin and his K9 partner Ranger up and took them to a parking lot owned by the Louisville Metro Police Department on Poplar Level Road. Benjamin testified that Ranger performed a “double-blind” search of the lot, with no prior details from Brooks and with Brooks waiting outside the lot which had about 10 cars in it. Benjamin said Ranger narrowed his search to two vehicles, then sat down at the back right corner of a white Buick, which Brooks on Monday testified was the kind of car Anna Whitesides and Nick Houck had traded into a dealership on May 2, 2016. Benjamin testified that sitting down is Ranger’s trained final response in a human remains detection search.

The prosecution next called Joshua Hickman, who the court recognized as a digital forensics expert. Hickman testified that he had been asked to do analysis on extraction data on Rogers’s phone, and he testified that the data shows on July 3, 2016, the phone was on and using apps from 7:39 p.m. until it appears the battery died at 9:23 p.m. Hickman said the device booted back up at 11:57 p.m. before being manually shut down 30 seconds later, and he testified that Rogers’s phone was then off until 10:45 a.m. on July 6.

Joseph Lawson’s former stepmother Rebecca Greer, who is also the mother of his former partner Elizabeth Chesser, was called to the stand. She testified that in 2019 she overheard a conversation between Elizabeth and Lawson about “moving a car and $50,000.” When she later asked Lawson about it, he told her she needed to “ask Steve.” Greer also testified that she and Steven Lawson went over to break up an altercation between Chesser and Joseph, at which time Steven and Joseph began fighting. Greer testified that Joseph told Steven “You keep on, and I’m going to let everyone know about this car and your involvement.”

Lawson’s grandmother Barbara Colter also took the stand. She testified that in the summer of 2022, while Steven Lawson was living with Colter, Joseph showed up one day on his motorcycle while high and told her that Steven killed Rogers. She testified that she said “if you’re going to say stuff like this, you have to know it’s a fact.”

Following the closing of the prosecution’s case, Nelson Circuit Judge Charles Simms III dismissed the jury for the day to review “motions for a directed verdict of acquittal” filed by both defenses. Houck’s attorney Brian Butler argued that the prosecution’s case does not meet the standards set in Kentucky case law for conviction in a no-body homicide. Butler said “It’s clear you have to have one of three things: a body, a crime scene, or confession. None of those exist in this case.” Simms denied the motion, stating that based on evidence presented there is proof of death in the case for a jury to deliberate on. Lawson’s attorneys argued in order to have a conspiracy you have to have an agreement, which they said the persecution never proved. Simms one again said the evidence presented could reasonably convince a jury, and denied the motion.

The defenses will open their case as the trial resumes at the Warren County Justice Center Wednesday morning.