Attorney general’s office fights to uphold convictions in Crystal Rogers case

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky attorney general’s office says it is working to uphold convictions of two men sentenced in connection with the disappearance and death of Crystal Rogers.

Rogers, a Bardstown mother of five, was last seen alive on July 3, 2015, officials say.

According to a release Thursday, officials say a Kentucky judge and juries sentenced 55-year-old Steve Lawson to a 17-year sentence and 35-year-old Joey Lawson to a 25-year sentence.

Separate juries convicted both men on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.

In April, the attorney general’s office says Joey Lawson filed an appeal with the Kentucky Supreme Court to have his conviction overturned. Steve Lawson appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in May, according to the release.

In response, officials say Attorney General Russell Coleman filed briefs arguing in support of the “substantial proof presented against both men at their trials last year in Warren County.”

According to the attorney general’s office, the brief in the Steve Lawson case details the key role Lawson allegedly played in facilitating Rogers’ murder: “Steve didn’t just agree to help, he delivered.”

A brief further states Joey Lawson was, “…a conspirator in Crystal’s death and disappearance, his guilt is Houck’s guilt.”

“The convictions of these men brought long-awaited accountability and justice to the Rogers and Ballard families, after nearly a decade of waiting,” said Attorney General Coleman. “The defendants can no longer evade justice.”

Read the brief in the Joseph Lawson case here. Read the brief in the Steve Lawson case here.

Brooks Houck, who was dating Rogers at the time of her disappearance, was convicted of murder.

In January, he filed an appeal with the Kentucky Supreme Court to have his conviction overturned.

Earlier this year, the attorney general’s office says Coleman filed a brief urging the courts to uphold his life sentence.