The three men charged in Rogers’ death will appear in court next week, where discussions are expected to cover immunity, the trial and police interrogation tactics.
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'He wanted his wife gone.' | New court documents allege Brooks Houck contacted Steve Lawson days before Crystal Rogers’ death
New court documents in the Crystal Rogers case reveal how Brooks Houck’s attorney hopes to
keep the three trials separate.
In new documents filed Tuesday, the attorney alleges if the trials are combined, it will lead to a near certain reversal of any conviction.
Houck’s attorney, Brian Butler, continues to fight for his client to be tried separately from the two men he is accused of working with in the murder and cover-up of his former girlfriend.
Butler said if the trial is combined, the jury will not see the “unsavory tactics law enforcement employed during their interviews of the Lawsons that ultimately resulted in false confessions.”
According to the court filing, Steve Lawson appeared before a grand jury on September 20, 2023 and testified that Brooks Houck told him “he wanted his wife gone”. The documents go on to say, he then asked Steve Lawson to point him in the direction of someone who could kill Rogers.
Butler argues jurors will receive an incomplete picture of what led to that testimony, including Steve Lawson’s multiple repeated denials and “hours of suggestion, coercion and convincing” that led to his grand jury testimony.
The new court documents also reveal more details about that phone call from July 8, 2015 inside the Nelson County Sheriff's Office interrogation room. When Detective Jon Snow asks Houck about a late night phone call on the night Rogers' disappeared, Houck said he doesn't remember who he talked to.
Houck goes on to call the number on speaker phone, and when Steve Lawson answers, Lawson tells Houck he had called that night to ask about an apartment. According to interrogation transcripts, that call was staged.
The new court documents include transcripts from multiple different police interviews, but Butler said if the judge combines the trials, jurors will be “entirely unaware” that Steve Lawson was inconsistent every time he told detectives about a conversation with Houck.
Prosecutor Shane Young has asked a judge to combine the trials in former court documents writing, ”The jury in this case deserves a complete picture of the conspiracy to murder Crystal Rogers and to cover up that murder by tampering with evidence.”
“Brooks does not want to hide the complete picture," Butler said in his response. "He simples wants due process and the opportunity to mount a defense.”
Butler argues evidence that would be critical to Houck’s ability to mount a defense would be hidden from the jury during a combined trial because of a state law.
According to the police interrogation log included in the documents, after Houck asked Steve Lawson to help “get rid” of Crystal, Steve Lawson said “I ain’t no killer. I don’t kill people.”
“Lawson gave the clearest amount of the alleged solicitation after taking an unrecorded sixty-four-minute smoke break with the two detective that were actively interrogating him," Butler said.
Butler writes if the court does grant the motion to consolidate the cases, Brooks will want to be tried first.
The next court date in this case is scheduled for June 13 at 9 a.m. in Nelson County.
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