LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Roger Burdette has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for wanton murder and wanton endangerment in the 2018 death of Louisville Metro Police Detective Deidre Mengedoht.
Jefferson County Judge McKay Chauvin said he would stick with a jury's recommended sentence made in early November, after the defense requested a 20 year sentence instead.
The jury found Burdette guilty of murder and four counts of wanton endangerment, operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and failure to give right of way to a stopped emergency vehicle.
On Dec. 24, 2018, Mengedoht was making a traffic stop going eastbound on I-64 at the Belvedere, when Burdette, who was driving a semi-trailer truck, struck her vehicle. The collision resulted in her death.
The Commonwealth proved to the jury that Burdette was watching porn and under the influence of pain pills at the time of the crash.
Judge Chauvin denied the defense's motion for a new trial, after they argued that the judge allowed evidence to be presented by state attorneys that was either irrelevant or not given to the defense prior to the trial's start.
During his sentencing, Burdette spoke for the first time since the crash, addressing the court and Det. Mengedoht's family.
"I would just like to say to the family, I'm sorry," Burdette said. "There's not a day that goes by, I feel for them."
But Mengedoht's family turned their heads, looking away. He then said her death was an accident.
"I'm not here to talk about me, I just wanted people to know it does bother me," he said.
The judge seemed to have a problem with Burdette calling the death an accident. He said Burdette did not meet his responsibilities and as a result, something bad happened.
"Some accidents are the result of people's negligence. You didn't attend to what you should have" Judge Chauvin said. "Had you met your responsibilities this bad thing wouldn't have happened."
As part of his statement, he also said that "police officers are just people," to which Judge Chauvin responded: "I'm not sure where you're going with the police officers, people thing, but one of the things that stood out was the suggestion that this was somehow cooked up by the police to avenge the death of one of their own. That is just not true."
Mengedoht's sister Ashley Lewis also spoke during the sentencing saying that he should be punished to the maximum extent of the law.
"He makes us suffer through this every day, reliving this over and over and over because he isn't willing to take responsibility for what he's done," she said. "For that, he should be punished to the maximum extent of the law."
In tears, she went on to say that "if he would've tried to save her that day, I would've tried to save him now," and believes he deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail, not because of "bad decisions he made up until the point that he hit her, it was the decision to not even try to fix his wrong."
Burdette's attorney said they do plan to appeal and requested Burdette to be released on bond and put back on home incarceration during that appeals process. Judge Chauvin denied that request.
Burdette is 63 years old, and part of his sentence includes nearly three years of time served. His attorney said he will be 77 years old before he's eligible for parole.
HEATHER FOUNTAINE
Contact reporter Heather Fountaine at hfountaine@whas11.com and follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Heather) and Facebook.
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