The lawyer for the third man arrested for the murder of a mother of five who hasn’t been seen since 2015 says that his client is innocent — and that there may have been a murder-for-hire plot behind the woman’s presumed death.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Steven Lawson has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the presumed murder of Crystal Rogers. His adult son, Joseph Lawson, was arrested in September and faces the same charges as his father.
Rogers’ boyfriend, Brooks Houck — who is the father of her youngest child and the last person to be seen with Rogers — was also arrested in September. He has been charged with Rogers’ murder as well as tampering with physical evidence. He has pleaded not guilty.
Brooks Houck (top left, via Hardin County (Ky.) Detention Center) allegedly murdered his girlfriend Crystal Rogers (bottom right, via FBI). Joseph Lawson (bottom left, via YouTube screengrab/WHAS) and his father, Steven Lawson (middle, via Harrison County Sheriff’s Dept.), are accused of conspiring in the murder.
On Tuesday, Louisville Fox affiliate WDRB reported that Steven Lawson’s lawyer, Theodore Lavit, expected the arrest — and that his client had been offered immunity by prosecutors.
“He’s not surprised,” attorney Theodore Lavit said of the arrest. “As interrogation progressed down through the last month, they were backing off of their agreement to give him immunity. We believe he’s immune. I still think he’s immune.”
According to Steven Lawson’s indictment, he agreed to “aid one or more persons in the planning or commission” of the death of another and then “destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed” or altered physical evidence on July 3 or July 4, 2015, when Rogers disappeared, the station reported.
Lavit also says his client is innocent.
“He knows nothing about her death,” Lavit said. “At no times has he indicated he harmed that girl.”
Lavit did say that his client’s son was, at one point, behind the wheel of Rogers’ car.
“Joey (Joseph Lawson) drove Crystal’s vehicle west on the Bluegrass (Parkway) to, I believe it was Mile Marker 14 or 16, where he had a flat tire,” Lavit told the station, which noted that it was the first on-the-record account of how Rogers’ car ended up abandoned on the highway after her disappearance.
The attorney also seemed to imply a possible murder-for-hire situation
“There likely is, for my knowledge of this case, evidence that there was solicitation,” Lavit said, claiming someone tried to hire a person to kill Rogers. He didn’t identify who was behind the alleged effort, but anticipated that state prosecutors would make “a heavy effort to prove that.”
Lavit said his client used to work for Houck as a part-time employee, WDRB reported.
“He did some work with a skidder, possibly freshening up ground because Mr. Houck was building houses in the subdivision near the golf course, heading out on Bloomfield Road out of Nelson County,” Lavit said. “I know the commonwealth has been concerned with the use of heavy duty machinery. I know that.”
He told the station that Steve Lawson has been working with investigators.
“They asked him to tell the truth and cooperate, and he’s done that,” Lavit said. “They’ve interrogated him over a dozen times.”
Although Steve Lawson had what his lawyer referred to as a “sweetheart deal” — specifically, that he was out on $50,000 bond for an arrest in May for evidence tampering in exchange for his cooperation — Lavit believes that more arrests are coming, and that’s why his client was arrested last week.
“I think it’s an attempt by the commonwealth to screw in more pressure on my client, more pressure than what they’ve exerted this year, some of it in my presence, lot of pressure, lot of heat, lot of interrogation, heavy duty interrogating,” he said. “I think this is an attempt to do even more.”
According to the FBI, Rogers was reported missing on July 5, 2015, by her mother, two days after last being seen. The day she was reported missing, Rogers’ car was found abandoned with a flat tire at mile marker 14 on the Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown, Kentucky, about 45 miles southeast of Louisville, according to federal investigators. Her keys, phone, and purse were still inside the car.
She is presumed dead. Her body has never been found.
Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard, was shot to death on Nov. 19, 2016. Prosecutors have said Ballard’s death may possibly be linked to Houck’s brother, a now-former police officer who may have sold the gun that was eventually used to kill Ballard.
No one has been charged in Ballard’s shooting death.
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