Democratic state Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton of Louisville pleaded guilty last week to driving while intoxicated last summer and was sentenced to 10 days of home incarceration.
This is the second time Chester-Burton has pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in recent years, as she previously did so in 2021 when she was the mayor of Shively.
Chester-Burton entered an Alford plea in which she does not admit guilt, but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict her. She was also fined $909 and must undergo alcohol treatment as part of the plea deal.
According to the Shively Police Department citation last August, Chester-Burton was pulled over after officers observed her vehicle weaving into an oncoming lane and then stopping in the middle of the road. The citation said she smelled strongly of alcohol and had slurred speech, but refused to perform sobriety tests, stating a few times that “she would beat it like she did the last one.”
The citation stated that Chester-Burton requested to call the Shively police chief and said while being transported to jail that “these guys act like they haven’t ever been to a birthday party.”
The Shively Police Department denied an open records request last year from Kentucky Public Radio seeking any video footage from the arrest, saying the material was exempt.
Chester-Burton was also arrested for DUI in December 2020, after crashing into a car at a White Castle drive-through and then running into a utility pole. She pleaded guilty the following year and paid a fine.
She was mayor of Shively until late 2022, leaving that office after she was first elected to the state House that November.
Chester-Burton was elected to her second term in the state House last year, just three months after her second DUI arrest, as she was the only candidate on the general election ballot.
The Herald-Leader first reported on Chester-Burton’s home incarceration sentence on Monday. Her attorney told the paper the lawmaker “is not serving a jail sentence, and she has no restrictions and will meet all her legislative obligations in Frankfort as normal.”
A spokesperson for the Democratic House caucus of the Kentucky General Assembly did not return an email requesting comment on Chester-Burton’s plea deal and sentence.
