Steven Lawson's new lawyers warn court of possible delay in Crystal Rogers murder trial

BARDSTOWN, Kentucky (WAVE) – The trial in the murder of Crystal Rogers is in danger of being delayed.

The father-son duo Joseph and Steven Lawson appeared in court again on Thursday.

They are both accused of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence.

At an uneventful 10-minute hearing on Thursday, Steven Lawson appeared in person and his son Joseph Lawson appeared via Zoom from prison

The hearing began with the introduction of Stevens' new attorneys, Darren Wolff and Zach Buckler, after he fired attorney Ted Lavit earlier this month.

The two are EPA contractors for the District Attorney's Office and pointed out at the beginning of the hearing how much case information they had to go through.

“Judge, I would like to inform the court that before we came here, the Commonwealth provided us with a hard drive with two terabytes of information. So if that's what you mean by the file, then we have received it,” Wolff explained.

Wolff said they have not yet had a chance to review the actual case file, but the Commonwealth has turned over three evidence acquisition kits.

The next step was to find out if there would be separate trials against the father-son duo and Brooks Houck and whether Steven Lawson would decide to use his interviews as evidence.

Since his lawyers were officially assigned the case 48 hours before the hearing, they asked for more time.

“I would say if you give us 45 days to resolve this matter, I think it would probably be realistic for us to at least address this particular issue,” Wolff said.

Judge Charles Sims gave Lawson's lawyers more time to make a decision, but with a mountain of information to sift through in about six months, Wolff indicated that a later motion to delay the start of the trial was possible.

“The investigation in this case has dragged on for a long time,” Wolff said. “So I think it would be important to at least advise the court that I am not 100% sure that we will be ready to hear the case in the time that this court currently has available.”

Judge Sims said that bridge will be crossed when they get there, but his goal is to process his cases as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The trial is currently scheduled to begin on February 10, 2025, but this date is becoming increasingly unlikely.

It is not yet known whether the suspects will be tried together.

The next court date for the Lawsons to find out if their trials will be held separately is October 4, right here at 9 a.m.

All rights reserved.