The prosecution rested its case Thursday, the third day of the Steve Lawson trial in Bowling Green.
Lawson is charged in connection with the presumed death of 35-year-old Crystal Rogers, the Bardstown mother of five who disappeared in 2015.
One of the prosecution’s final witnesses on Thursday was former FBI investigator Mike Shafer, who interviewed Lawson in 2015. Shafer testified that cell phone records showed the 54-year-old Lawson was at a Nelson County farm for four hours around the time Rogers went missing. That’s the same property investigators previously searched for a body.
Under cross-examination, Shafer acknowledged that cell phone records only place a phone at a location and not necessarily a person.
Lawson is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence. After prosecutors rested their case, Lawson’s lead defense attorney Darren Wolff made a motion for acquittal on the conspiracy to commit murder charge, arguing a lack of evidence.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young countered that Lawson agreed to pick up his son Joseph Lawson, who moved Roger’s car to look like it was abandoned on the Bluegrass Parkway. Young argued that Steve Lawson knew that Rogers' ex-boyfriend Brooks Houck wanted her dead, and while he declined, he suggested someone else who might participate in the murder.
Nelson Co. Circuit Judge Charles Simms denied the motion for acquittal and the defense called its first witness.
Karl Reich, a forensic DNA expert, testified about two hairs found in Crystal Rogers’s car. Prosecutors originally wanted to test them but later withdrew the motion. The defense witness said it’s best to test DNA samples as soon as possible because evidence gets worse over time.
Under cross-examination, the forensic expert said the hair samples were longer than hair from Steve Lawson and his two co-defendants, Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson.
The defense plans to call at least two more witnesses Friday morning. Closing arguments and jury deliberations are expected that afternoon.
