LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Almost three years after the deadly Christmas Eve crash that claimed the life of a Louisville Metro Police officer, 63-year-old Roger Burdette, the man charged with her murder is having his day in court.
Nine women and five men were selected for the jury Tuesday morning an opening statements began.
In opening statements, prosecutors said it wasn’t an accident that claimed the Detective Deidre Mengedoht's life on Christmas Eve 2018.
Prosecutors told the jury evidence in the trial will prove she was murdered.
They cited court documents that allege that Roger Burdette took controlled substances and watched a pornographic video while behind the wheel of his Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) truck before crashing into Mengedoht's police cruiser.
Burdette’s attorney says the detective’s death is tragic but not all tragedies have a villain.
He says his client is innocent and that there is no evidence to prove he was intoxicated or distracted at the time of the crash.
Burdette’s attorney also says a witness will testify that the location where the detective stopped to conduct the traffic stop was likely to cause a crash.
Witness testimonies will resume Wednesday morning.
On Monday, Jefferson County Circuit Judge McKay Chauvin made his decision on pre-trial motions.
Burdette faces murder, DUI, wanton endangerment, and failure to give right of way charges after he crashed into the cruiser of Louisville Metro Police Department Detective Mengedoht who was conducting a traffic stop.
Court documents show that Burdette may have been looking at a pornographic video on his phone at the time of the crash.
During pre-trial motions, a debate took place as to whether or not the name of the pornographic video was relevant.
Burdette's attorney Amy Hannah argued that it was not important and that stigma surrounding pornography would threaten Burdette’s right to a fair trial.
“First, and I think the easiest is that specific video and its name is not relevant for any purpose other than to inflame the passions of a jury to think that this video is playing while he is driving and convict solely based on the name of that,” says Hannah. “I think nobody needs to be told this pornography carries a certain stigma attached in our community, and there's this idea, 'Well if you are engaged in this type of behavior, maybe there's something different or something wrong.'”
Prosecutors said it is important because that type of video is accessed for visual purposes and Judge McKay Chauvin agreed.
“It is certainly legitimate that it is a greater distraction than something that does not require your eyes to be on it in order to extract the value from it,” says Chauvin.
Burdette’s attorneys tried to have text message exchanges of him trying to get illegal substances thrown out.
Prosecutors say it’s evidence of his knowledge of the risk of operating a tanker truck while under the influence of those drugs.
Chauvin says he will look into those texts more but seemed to agree with prosecutors.
“If you have specific evidence of what’s in somebody’s head about it it’s pretty good evidence of their disregard,” says Chauvin. “I'm inclined to allow the absence of a stipulation because it does prove a higher degree of wantonness.”
Burdette’s other charges in connection with the crash include four counts of wanton endangerment and failure to give right of way to an emergency vehicle.