Dec 6, 2023 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Washington County’s district attorney is asking a judge to force the county coroner to immediately relinquish all files related to a fatal police shooting in April, prompting the coroner’s solicitor to fire back and suggest the prosecutor should face sanctions for his conduct.

District Attorney Jason Walsh filed the temporary restraining order request Friday in which he wants a mandate requiring Coroner Timothy Warco to return all investigative materials while also providing a list of every entity to which the information has been disseminated.

“Irreparable harm will result unless future distributions of protected information is prevented and already disseminated information is reclaimed,” Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann wrote in the request on Walsh’s behalf. “The public interest will be served by the order requiring handling of such materials in accordance with the law already enacted by the legislature.”

Warco’s solicitor, Carnegie-based attorney Timothy Uhrich, fired back in two subsequent filings that Walsh’s request and recent actions against him and the coroner are unwarranted and could become a “significant detriment and obstruction of statutorily mandated investigations” in the county.

Judge Michael Lucas could hear motions from both sides in his courtroom inside the Washington County Courthouse at 8:45 a.m. Thursday.

The ongoing disagreement stems from the coroner’s inquest that Warco convened in October to investigate the police shooting of a motorist in Washington on April 2. Mt. Pleasant Township police Officer Tyler Evans shot and killed 38-year-old Eduardo Hoover following a lengthy police chase that began in Burgettstown and ended when several police cars boxed in Hoover’s fleeing pickup truck on Jefferson Avenue in the city.

While Walsh initially said he believed the shooting was justified, Warco apparently wanted to convene an inquest shortly afterward due to “certain inconsistencies with the narrative that had been previously presented” to investigators, according to Uhrich’s filing. A meeting was held April 26 in the coroner’s office between Warco, Walsh, Sheriff Tony Andronas, former coroner’s solicitor Steven Toprani and Uhrich, who was attending as solicitor of the Pennsylvania State Coroner’s Association.

The meeting soon turned heated when Warco told those in attendance that he was concerned about his initial investigation along with the facts presented to his office, leading him to suggest the need for an inquest, according to Uhrich.

“At that point, Walsh reacted in a hostile, belligerent, and threatening manner,” Uhrich wrote in his court filing. “He informed Warco that he, Walsh, would do everything necessary to prevent Warco from conducting the inquest – including taking measures to attempt to quash any subpoenas that Warco would issue as part of the inquest process. Regardless, Warco stood firm in his resolve to conduct the inquest, which further enraged Walsh.”

Walsh apparently raised concerns about how the inquest could affect their upcoming primary and general elections they faced this year, and noted that police officers, along with their families and supporters, would turn against them, according to Uhrich. That prompted Walsh to stand up and approach Warco as he “pointed a finger in his face” and told him he planned to stop the inquest. Walsh then told Warco he would hold a press conference and “justify” the shooting – which he did on May 5 – and said the coroner could decide for himself whether to join him or not.

Warco’s two-day inquest in late October found that Evans should be held “criminally liable” and urged the district attorney to file charges, which Walsh has said repeatedly he will not do.

The district attorney’s brief referred to it as a “so-called ‘inquest'” and accused Warco and Uhrich of releasing sensitive investigative information that should not be public. The filing stated a restraining order is needed because Warco and Uhrich “have already disseminated this protected non-public investigative information to others and will continue to do such that multiple individuals and/or entities might be or might come into possession of materials” in the future. The prosecutor wants Lucas to require any future requests for investigative information and materials to be forwarded to the district attorney’s office for consideration.

Walsh also took exception with the release of multiple videos showing several angles of the shooting, along with witness statements and comments. But the brief also scolded Warco for releasing the name of the police officer involved in the shooting through the inquest.

“Unlike Defendants’ apparent disdain for the Constitution, the presumption of innocence, and the rule of law, the District Attorney will not name that officer as DA Walsh takes his obligations to support the rights of the innocent seriously,” the brief states.

Warco and Uhrich received a letter from Walsh on Nov. 21 “demanding” they return the subpoenaed documents from the inquest, which they declined to do. During a meeting between Walsh and Uhrich in an unrelated matter the following day, Walsh apparently called him the “idiot lawyer from Allegheny County.”

Two search warrants filed by Walsh led to raids at Warco’s coroner’s office in Washington and Uhrich’s attorney’s office in Carnegie, with numerous county detectives and state police troopers going to both locations last week and pulling all investigative documents related to the inquest.

“Neither Warco nor Uhrich operate to the fealty of Walsh,” Uhrich wrote in his filing. “The belief that Warco and Uhrich owe compliance to Walsh is endemic of the outrageous and megalomaniac behavior exhibited by Walsh throughout the course of these proceedings.”

Uhrich called it a “meritless search warrant” which he claimed was “legally deficient” in its reasons and lacked specificity in what was taken. Uhrich is asking Lucas to impose various sanctions against Walsh for his actions in response to the inquest and his handling of the search warrants.

“Throughout the course of the proceedings that have given rise to the instant matter, Walsh has exhibited conduct that operates wholly and completely in contravention to the standards to which he must be held and abide as both a lawyer and a prosecutor,” Uhrich wrote in his brief.