Dewey Burchett

Dewey Eldridge Burchett, Jr. (November 18, 1939 – November 20, 2009), was a state court judge from Benton in Bossier Parish in northwestern Louisiana.​

Biography[edit]

The son of Dewey Burchett, Sr., and the former Patti Ogilvie, he was born in Shreveport and reared in Benton. He graduated in 1957 from Benton High School and in 1961 from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Thereafter, he was a flight instructor from 1962 to 1967 in the United States Air Force, in which he attained the rank of captain during the Vietnam era.^[1] He was a member of the Shreveport senior squadron of the Civil Air Patrol.^[2]

In 1970, Burchett graduated from the LSU Law Center and began practicing law in Bossier City, of which he was also the city attorney.^[3] As the attorney for the Bossier Parish Levee Board, he worked during the 1970s with the congressional delegation to secure funding for the locks and dams essential for the navigation of the Red River. In his earlier years, Burchett was president of the Bossier City Jaycees. He was a member of the Bossier City Lions International and taught Sunday school at the Benton United Methodist Church.^[4]​

A member of the Bossier Parish Democratic Executive Committee,^[1] Burchett was elected in 1988 to the 26th Judicial District Court for Bossier and Webster parishes. He defeated his fellow Democrat, Bobby Lee Stromile (born September 1951), 18,143 votes (64 percent) to 10,205 (36 percent).^[5]​ Burchett held the judgeship, unopposed until 2008, when he was narrowly unseated by the Republican former assistant district attorney Michael Craig, who polled 12,182 votes (51 percent) to Burchett's 11,683 (49 percent).^[6]​

Craig prevailed by fewer than four hundred votes. Incumbent judges are rarely challenged, particularly in a controversial campaign. Craig called Burchett a liberal and cited cases in which he claimed the judge had rendered too lenient sentences. Burchett questioned a tax lien filed against Craig during the campaign by the Internal Revenue Service and issues relating to Craig's divorce.^[7]​

From his marriage to the former Patricia "Pat" Bolender (born May 1942), Burchett had two sons, insurance agent Dewey Burchett, III (born December 1967), and Edward Bolender Burchett (born (October 1972), both Republicans. Burchett died unexpectedly in a local hospital two days after his seventieth birthday. He was cremated. His honorary pallbearers included the state Senator Robert Roy Adley. former Bossier City interim Mayor Frank Blackburn, retired 26th Judicial District Judge Graydon K. Kitchens, Jr., past judicial candidate Whitley Robert "Whit" Graves, and former Bossier City Judge Rogers M. Prestridge.^[4]​

Charles Scott, the Caddo Parish district attorney who died in 2015, recalled Burchett as "... dedicated and hard-working ... very committed and very conscientious."^[2] Scott noted that he and Burchett formerly served on numerous judicial committees which addressed issues affecting all state judges.^[2]

References[edit]