![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Steven-Lawson.jpg?resize=125%2C125\")
\nSteven Lawson, the last person charged in the disappearance and death of Crystal Rogers, will be the first to stand trial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\nSteven Lawson, the last person charged in the disappearance and death of Crystal Rogers, will be the first to stand trial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Bardstown mother of five was last seen alive on the Fourth of July weekend in 2015. Her then-boyfriend, Brooks Houck, was the last person to see her alive on July 3, and has been considered the main suspect since she was first reported missing.<\/p>\n
Houck was arrested in 2023 and charged with complicity to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. His two business associates and father-son duo, Steven and Joseph Lawson, were arrested that same year and each charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. All three men have pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n
Both Houck and Joseph Lawson will be charged together at the end of June, the court finding that neither gave incriminating statements against one another that would preclude them from going to trial together.<\/p>\n
However, that was not the case for the elder Lawson, Steven.<\/p>\n
Both Steven\u2019s grand jury statements and interviews with investigators, where he is angling for immunity, have been used to separate his trial from the others.<\/p>\n
His statements may create an unfair trial for his co-defendants, as federal law does not allow the confession of a co-defendant who is not testifying to implicate another defendant in a crime. Redacting or substituting a name was found to be insufficient in resolving that issue, as well.<\/p>\n
In his many statements given to investigators, Steven has had an ever-evolving narrative. These statements include his involvement with Roger\u2019s car on the Bluegrass Parkway, his work with Houck and phone calls made between Houck and Steven, including a brief call on the night Rogers was last seen alive.<\/p>\n
Special Prosecutor Shane Young found Steven\u2019s statements were not truthful, revoking an agreement that information would lead to immunity.<\/p>\n
Judge Charles Simms III has allowed some statements made in interviews stipulating immunity to be excluded but not those made before a grand jury.<\/p>\n
Since June 2024, Steven fired his attorney Ted Lavit, claiming his attorney was not doing his job. He is now represented by a public defender team made up of Darren Wolff and Zach Buckler.<\/p>\n
Despite a push by Steven\u2019s new team to delay the trial beyond May 27, the trial will move forward on Tuesday in Warren County. The change of venue comes in an effort to obtain a fair jury pool amid immense media coverage of the case since 2015.<\/p>\n
In an order issued on May 13, Judge Simms barred cameras and all electronics from the courtroom. The judge cited the attention and \u201ccircuslike atmosphere\u201d that the case had generated and previous court proceedings where media were restricted to one camera inside the courtroom, but they say some were still seen videoing off phones and tablets.<\/p>\n
The process to seat a jury begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 27.
\nSource: WAVE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Steven Lawson, the last person charged in the disappearance and death of Crystal Rogers, will be the first to stand trial on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":45677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-51946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archive","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Steven-Lawson.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6aKAp-dvQ","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 12:20:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51947,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51946\/revisions\/51947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wvih.com\/wp1\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}