Kentucky Lawmaker’s Son Settles Wrongful Death Suit for $1.5 Million

A Kentucky lawmaker’s son has agreed to a $1.5 million settlement with the family of a graduate student in a wrongful death suit over a fatal accident after a party in southwestern Kentucky.

Attorneys for Burgess Harrison Yonts and the family of Nadia Shaheen filed papers in U.S. District Court on Friday detailing the settlement.

Yonts, the son of state Rep. Brent Yonts, was convicted in February 2007 of wanton murder, drunken driving and other charges in the 2005 crash that killed Shaheen, a graduate student at Murray State University.

Yonts was a student at Murray State and a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Police say he hit Shaheen as she walked alongside the road. Her body was found in a ditch the morning of the collision.