BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Court TV/Scripps News Lexington) — The first trial against one of the defendants accused of being involved in Crystal Rogers’ disappearance has ended in a guilty verdict.
Steven Lawson appeared in court asking for his bond to be reduced. (Scripps News Lexington)
A Kentucky jury convicted Steven Lawson on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence following a four-day trial and a quick deliberation process.
Rogers, a mother of five, vanished on July 3, 2015, leaving behind her vehicle on the side of the Bluegrass Parkway. Prosecutors say Lawson’s phone was tracked moving to where that car was abandoned, and that he called Brooks Houck, Rogers’ ex-boyfriend, around midnight to tell him “the job was done.” Houck is also charged with Rogers’ murder and will be tried separately.
MORE | Brooks Houck argues for separate trials in the Crystal Rogers case
In their opening statements to the jury, Lawson’s defense conceded his guilt to charges of tampering with evidence, saying that he helped move the vehicle and even pulled the driver’s seat up to make it look like Rogers drove to the parkway herself. But the defense maintains the involvement doesn’t prove that Lawson conspired to kill Rogers.
Witnesses who testified for the prosecution said that Lawson implicated himself in Rogers’ disappearance, telling one person that his ex-wife was leaving him because she said he had “murder on him.”
Sentencing for Lawson is set for Aug. 6. His son, Joseph Lawson, faces the same charges as his father and is scheduled to stand trial next month.
