Aug 5, 2025 By Mike Jones 6 min read

The former solicitor for Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco said he “noticed a demonstrable change in (his) demeanor” beginning in late 2022 and early 2023 when he began pursuing a coroner’s inquest in the shooting death of a man following a lengthy police chase.

Steve Toprani, who served as Warco’s solicitor from 2013 until he “resigned in protest” in October 2023 following the inquest, wrote in a sworn affidavit Saturday that he thought the coroner’s actions at the time were “politically motivated and unlawful acts” in an attempt to smear Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh.

During that time, Warco became “more involved” with the Pennsylvania State Coroners’ Association – he’s currently the group’s president – and began taking advice from its solicitor, Timothy Uhrich, who would later serve as his row office’s attorney, eventually leading to Toprani’s resignation following the inquest.

“Warco then began making, in my observations and opinion, political decisions that exceeded his statutory authority,” Toprani wrote in his affidavit. “Warco was erratic and confrontational when I raised reasonable concerns to him about his conduct and Uhrich’s advice.”

Specifically, Toprani said Warco’s desire to begin holding coroner’s inquests to review police use-of-force deaths after Walsh had already justified police officer’s actions appeared to be political. The first inquest involved a motorist who was shot and killed by a Mt. Pleasant Township police officer on April 2, 2023, following a police pursuit that began in the Burgettstown area and ended in Washington.

Walsh had already justified the use of force in that instance, but Warco suggested the police officer should be charged with a crime. That situation led to a significant rift between the district attorney and coroner that seemingly has boiled over with now dueling affidavits ripping each others’ motives and decision making.

At the heart of the issue is that Walsh is now facing a petition from the Atlantic Center of Capital Representation of Philadelphia asking the state Supreme Court to restrict his use of the death penalty over accusations he’s used it for political purposes and leverage against defendants. Warco submitted an affidavit in support of the petition claiming Walsh coerced him into submitting a fraudulent death certificate saying that an 11-week-old Peters Township boy named Sawyer Clarke died from homicide May 24, 2022, despite the autopsy by the pathologist being unable to determine the manner of death. The boy’s father, Jordan Clarke, who is charged with homicide and faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder, is one of the petitioners represented by the Atlantic Center asking the state Supreme Court to review the case.

The Washington County commissioners last week hired Philadelphia attorney Shohin Vance to serve as special counsel representing Walsh to help respond to the petition, with today being the deadline to file paperwork unless a delay is requested. Toprani submitted a sworn affidavit Saturday giving his viewpoint of the situation that can be filed with the response.

“I felt that the coroner was dishonest with what he said about those circumstances and I was in a position to provide an explanation,” Toprani said in an interview Monday about Warco’s assertion that Walsh pushed him to file a fraudulent death certificate.

Toprani served as Washington County district attorney from 2008 until 2012, when his term expired and he decided not to run for re-election. He then began serving as solicitor for the Washington County coroner’s office, where he said he had a cordial relationship with Warco until near the end.

Toprani wrote in his affidavit that he thinks the use of the coroner’s inquest offered a “political benefit” for Warco and could have had an adverse effect on Walsh, although both easily won election in 2023. That inquest in October 2023 – less than a month before the general election – led to Toprani resigning as the coroner’s solicitor.

Toprani wrote in his affidavit he never heard Warco ask his advice on what to do if the district attorney was pushing him to file a fraudulent death certificate, which the coroner claims happened in Sawyer Clarke’s death investigation in 2022.

“With respect to the Coroner’s recent claims in his July 25, 2025 Affidavit, at no time did Coroner Warco seek my advice, despite me being the Coroner’s Solicitor and Deputy Coroner for a decade, nor did he raise any concerns with District Attorney Walsh and the death of (Sawyer Clarke),” Toprani wrote in his affidavit. “I reviewed all emails, records and available correspondence and at no point did Coroner Warco or Deputy (Coroner Matthew) Yancosek state concerns about coercion or influence by District Attorney Walsh.”

Walsh, who has denied he coerced Warco into doing anything, said Toprani’s affidavit will be part of the record in his response to the high court.

“I think it speaks for itself,” Walsh said Monday of Toprani’s affidavit. “Obviously, he’s questioned Mr. Warco’s mental fitness as far back as years ago.”

Warco said Monday he was unaware of Toprani’s affidavit, but he declined further comment since the matter is pending before the state Supreme Court. Uhrich, his new solicitor, declined to comment on Toprani’s affidavit, but said Walsh expressed his discontent about the coroner’s use of the inquest during a private meeting in April 2023 with Uhrich, Warco and Toprani where the district attorney raised concerns about how it could affect his election later that year.

“That meeting was about his election. (Warco) defied Walsh and you see what the outcome is,” Uhrich said about the district attorney’s detectives raiding his legal office and the coroner’s government office after demanding investigative information be returned to the prosecutor.

Uhrich also elaborated that Warco’s claim that he filed a “fraudulent document” was due to the fact that the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office had jurisdiction to review the boy’s death – Sawyer died at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh – and to file paperwork to the state on the cause and manner. Warco claimed in his affidavit that Walsh misled a judge that the boy’s death happened in Peters Township, which would have given the Washington County coroner jurisdiction to file the death certificate, which ultimately was rejected by the state Department of Health.

“The death certificate itself was fraudulent because it had already been submitted by the correct jurisdiction,” Uhrich said.

Uhrich declined further comment on the matter because the matter is still before the Supreme Court.

“The (coroner’s) affidavit speaks for itself, and we’re not making any comment besides that,” he said.