Jul 29, 2025 By Mike Jones 6 min read

The Washington County coroner is accusing District Attorney Jason Walsh of coercing him into filing a fraudulent death certificate for a Peters Township infant – who died under suspicious circumstances – for political purposes ahead of the 2023 election.

Shortly after the death of 11-week-old Sawyer Clarke on May 24, 2022, the district attorney’s office asked Coroner Timothy Warco to take jurisdiction of the case despite the boy dying at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, giving the authority to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.

In a sworn affidavit Warco gave Friday, the coroner claims Walsh and First Assistant District Attorney Leslie Mylan used their authority to persuade a Washington County judge to move jurisdiction of Sawyer’s body back to Washington County on the false premise that he died at the Peters Township home where he allegedly suffered the fatal injuries. The affidavit states that Walsh was concerned that Allegheny County’s medical examiner would not rule the boy’s death a homicide – it ultimately ruled the manner of death as undetermined – so he wanted Warco to conduct the report to ensure the finding was a homicide.

“You know that I need this to be a homicide. I need it to win an election,” Warco recalled Walsh telling him about the reasons to have the body returned to Washington County.

The Atlantic Center for Capital Representation in Philadelphia filed the addendum with Warco’s affidavit Tuesday, one week after asking the state Supreme Court to strip Walsh’s ability to pursue the death penalty over accusations that he used it as a political tool to get elected to a full term as district attorney in 2023. Walsh has filed notice to pursue the death penalty against 11 homicide defendants since he was elevated to the top prosecutor’s role in August 2021 following the death of District Attorney Gene Vittone, giving Washington County more than one-quarter of all capital cases in the state.

“District Attorney Walsh abused the power of his office for his own personal gain,” said Marc Bookman, who is executive director of the Atlantic Center. “He has utilized the death penalty as a threat while trampling the due process rights of people accused but not convicted of crimes.”

The center is representing Jordan Clarke, 39, of Peters Township, who is charged with homicide in the death of his son, Sawyer, and is facing the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder. Joshua George, 33, who is also represented in the center’s petition, is accused of assaulting his 6-month-old son, Oliver, inside his Smith Township home on the morning of Dec. 30, 2021. The child died four days later at a Pittsburgh hospital, and George is also facing the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.

According to the center, Warco learned of the petition after it was filed last Tuesday and had his counsel contact the lead attorneys to give his recollection of how Sawyer’s remains were handled following his death.

According to the affidavit, Warco told Walsh he could not take custody of Sawyer’s body since the death was not in his jurisdiction, prompting the district attorney to say he would take care of the situation.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you a court order,” Warco recalled Walsh telling him.

Warco’s affidavit accuses the district attorney’s office of falsely submitting information to Judge John DiSalle claiming that Sawyer died in Peters Township, prompting the judge to write a court order directing the boy’s body be brought under the jurisdiction of the Washington County coroner’s office.

In addition, Warco claims that Walsh directed him to find that the boy’s manner of death was homicide, prompting the coroner to file a death certificate with that information on it that was ultimately rejected by the state Department of Health since Allegheny County had jurisdiction. Warco wrote in his affidavit that the cause and manner he wrote in the “fraudulent death certificate were wholly in contravention” with what the autopsy revealed.

Matthew Yancosek, who serves as Warco’s chief deputy in the coroner’s office, also submitted a sworn affidavit confirming the events surrounding how Sawyer’s remains were handled. Reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon, Warco deferred to the information he wrote in the affidavit and declined additional comment.

“The affidavit stands as written. And as a matter that is still being litigated, I have no comment,” Warco said before pausing for a moment. “At this time.”

Walsh fired back in an interview Tuesday afternoon, raising questions about the death certificate Warco filed with the state.

“He’s saying he perpetrated a fraud and possibly a crime. He’s saying he submitted fraudulent paperwork to the state and he lied,” Walsh said. “All of (Warco’s accusations are) categorically false and it’s complete idiocy.”

Walsh theorized that Warco came forward due to an ongoing feud and “well-documented history between the two row offices” in recent years. The two have been at odds over Warco’s use of his coroner’s inquest powers in some cases in which he disputed Walsh’s decision not to file charges against a Mt. Pleasant Township police officer who opened fire on a motorist in Washington following a lengthy police chase. That prompted Walsh to send detectives to raid Warco’s office to retrieve evidence from the case.

The two row offices are in another dispute about a new inquest in which Warco has said he is unable to rule on a motorist’s death following a police chase near Avella since he claims the coroner’s office has not been given enough from investigators to make a decision.

“I question his fitness for office (and) his ability to do his job,” Walsh said of Warco. “He’s shown a pattern of being erratic and not being able to do his job. We’re at odds on almost everything, but for him to allege this is idiotic. … Why is he just saying it just now? All of a sudden he says it. It’s ludicrous. His allegations are false.”

But Frances Harvey, staff attorney at the Atlantic Center who brought the petition, praised Warco and Yancosek for coming forward to provide a “level of transparency and accountability that this situation demands” for criminal defendants in Washington County.

“DA Walsh has used this case and the death penalty more broadly as vehicles to advance his political career,” Harvey said in a written statement. “He is unfit to continue to pursue death sentences and, frankly, unfit to be a prosecutor.”