Man convicted in Crystal Rogers’ disappearance requests new trial
Lawyers for a man recently convicted in the disappearance of Bardstown mother Crystal Rogers have requested to have his guilty verdict thrown out.
Joseph Lawson, 34, filed a motion with the state court of appeals to receive a new trial, according to a court document filed Monday.
Lawson was found guilty this month of conspiracy to commit murder and evidence tampering in the disappearance and presumed death of Crystal Rogers, 35. Her body has never been found.
Lawson was sentenced to 25 years after a 10-day trial. Jurors ruled that Lawson helped dispose of either evidence of Rogers’ body.
He was tried alongside Rogers’ former boyfriend, Brooks Houck, 43, who was convicted of murder — principal or accomplice — and evidence tampering.
A jury recommended a sentence of life in prison for Houck.
A third suspect, Steven Lawson, 51, the father of Joseph Lawson, was convicted in a previous trial for conspiracy to commit murder and evidence tampering. Steven Lawson already requested a new trial, but a judge has not made a ruling.
In the motion to appeal, Joseph Lawson’s attorneys Robert Boyd and Kevin Coleman called the verdict “erroneous,” and asked that it be thrown out or a new trial granted.
The attorneys claim that errors occurred in pretrial proceedings, as well as during the trial.
Coleman and Boyd argue their client should have received his own trial, separate from Houck, and that Joseph Lawson was collateral damage in prosecutors’ efforts to convict Houck.
“The overwhelming amount of evidence presented at trial was not otherwise admissible in (Joseph Lawson’s) trial and clearly had a spillover effect,” the motion read.
Attorneys also said special prosecutor Shane Young violated the “golden rule,” which stipulates prosecutors cannot ask jurors to place themselves “in the victim’s shoes.”
During his closing statements, Young said, “I am not allowed to ask you to put yourself in the victim’s shoes.”
Lawson’s attorneys said while the statement was correct, the implication was clear that he was asking them to do exactly what the law says he can’t.
The joint trial was held in Bowling Green because of widespread media coverage that a judge ruled could have tainted a potential jury pool in Bardstown.
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 10:03 AM.
