Dewey E. Burchett, Jr.

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

Biography

The son of Dewey, Sr., and Patti Ogilvie Burchett, 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 Captain and 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 Louisiana State University Law Center. He practiced law in Bossier City, of which he was 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 lock and dams required for the navigation of the Red River. In his earlier years, Burchett was president of the Bossier City Junior Chamber International. 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)^[5] 18,143 (64 percent) to 10,205 (36 percent).^[6]

He held the judgeship, unopposed until 2008, when he was narrowly unseated by the Republican former assistant district attorney Michael Craig, 12,182 (51 percent) to 11,683 (49 percent).^[7]

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.^[8]

From his marriage to the former Patricia "Pat" Bolender (born May 1942), he 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 State Senator Robert Adley, former Bossier Mayor Frank Blackburn, retired 26th Judicial District Judge Graydon K. Kitchens, Jr., frequent judicial candidate Whitley Robert "Whit" Graves, and former Bossier City Judge Rogers M. "Mickey" Prestridge.^[4]

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

References