LOUISVILLE, Ky. — During the trial for Roger Burdette, the man charged with killing Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) Detective Deidre Mengedoht in a crash in 2018, physical evidence from the crash was shown to the jury.
The evidence was presented during the third day of the trial.
Jurors were shown the cars involved in the crash including Mengedoht's cruiser, the pickup truck that was pulled over and the MSD truck driven by Roger Burdette. The cars were positioned in the same matter as they were in the day the crash happened.
Mengedoht's cruiser was covered by a tarp for much of the observation which was only removed for jurors to see underneath.
"Just to give you a chance to see the actual vehicles... and the only way to do that is for us to go there because we can't bring them here," Judge McKay Chauvin said.
Burdette's MSD tanker truck was noticeably dented.
Case background:
Roger Burdette, a former Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) driver, crashed his truck into LMPD Detective Deidre Mengedoht's cruiser while she was conducting a traffic stop on I-64 on Christmas Eve in 2018. Mengedoht was killed in the crash.
After the crash, Burdette failed a field sobriety test and admitted to officers that he had taken multiple prescription drugs on the scene of the crash, according to his arrest report.
Additional court documents released earlier this year say Burdette was watching pornographic videos on his phone around the time of the crash.
Burdette was charged with murder, four counts of wanton endangerment, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and failing to give the right of way to a stopped emergency vehicle.
Burdette's trial was supposed to begin over the summer but was delayed due to the availability of a necessary witness.
The trial began Monday, Oct. 27, 2021. On Tuesday, after the prosecutor and defense questioned potential jurors, the court settled on the final 14 jurors: nine women and five men.
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