Brooks Houck, charged with murder of Crystal Rogers, seeks to have judge disqualified
Attorneys for Brooks Houck are asking that the judge presiding over the Crystal Rogers murder case be disqualified because of alleged bias.
Houck’s attorneys, Brian Butler and Michael Denbow, argue in an affidavit filed Tuesday that Nelson Circuit Court Judge Charles Simms III “has demonstrated, at least to an outward reasonable observer, an appearance of lack of impartiality and antagonism towards Mr. Houck.”
Houck was indicted in September on charges of murder and evidence tampering in the death of Crystal Rogers, a 35-year-old mother from Bardstown who went missing in July 2015. Houck has pleaded not guilty.
Houck’s attorneys say this is the first time they have ever sought to have a judge disqualified, and state in the affidavit that their request “should not be read as a personal attack against Judge Simms.”
As evidence of the judge’s alleged bias, the attorneys point to a statement Simms made about Houck in an unrelated custody case six years ago, as well as his handling of Houck’s bond.
The attorneys say media attention made Houck “a pariah to many in Nelson County” and created a situation in which “any Nelson County elected official, including a judge, faces enormous public and social pressure to be adverse to Mr. Houck.”
In 2017, when Houck’s “longtime significant other” was involved in a custody dispute, Simms, the judge in that case, wrote that he was “simply astonished that (the woman) would want a relationship with a man who is the prime suspect in the disappearance and presumed death of his previous girlfriend.”
“One might expect citizens without legal training to prejudge a suspect based upon news clips but it is simply inconceivable that a seasoned judge would choose to express his contempt for Mr. Houck so overtly and so unnecessarily in a case in which Mr. Houck was not even a litigant,” Butler and Denbow wrote.
Houck was not a party to the custody proceeding, but the judge had been asked to rule on whether Houck could have contact with his girlfriend’s child. At that time, Simms decided not to prevent the child from having contact with Houck, court records show.
The attorneys also allege Simms showed bias in setting Houck’s bond at $10 million, which they say is “grossly excessive” and is the highest bond the judge has ever set in a case.
They argued Houck had been deemed a low flight risk by Nelson County Pretrial Services, that he did not leave Bardstown during the years-long investigation into Rogers’ disappearance, that he has “significant ties to the community” and that he surrendered to law enforcement.
As evidence of the judge’s alleged impartiality, the attorneys also point to a particular moment during an Oct. 5 hearing where Simms considered Houck’s motion to have his bond reduced.
After the special prosecutor finished speaking, Simms said he was concerned about the safety of potential witnesses and asked, “Is the Commonwealth wanting to go anywhere with any other investigations that are going on with regard to this matter?”
That question, to which the attorneys say Simms already knew the answer, prompted the disclosure in open court that Houck’s brother, Nick Houck, used an alias to sell the rifle believed to have been used in the fatal shooting of Rogers’ father, Tommy Ballard. Nick Houck has not been charged with a crime.
“It appears that Judge Simms solicited inflammatory and irrelevant information about the alleged conduct of Nick Houck so that he could use it as a basis to justify the oppressive, unconstitutional bond affixed in this case due to either his personal bias concerning Mr. Houck, his previously expressed opinion as to the merits, or both,” the affidavit states.
In deciding not to reduce Houck’s bond, the judge wrote that he was concerned not only about flight risk and witness safety, but he said he also wanted to “better assure the integrity of this proceeding.”
“This judge simply wants both sides to receive a fair and impartial trial,” Simms wrote. “However, the integrity of the entire proceeding is at stake when someone deliberately violates the rules of criminal procedure. In this case, the Houck family intentionally engaged in misconduct when they secretly recorded the grand jury proceeding.”
The special prosecutor in the case said during the Oct. 5 hearing that Houck’s mother, sister, brother and brother-in-law illegally recorded the secret grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment.
This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 8:42 AM.
