Apr 9, 2026 By Mike Jones 5 min read

A disagreement between law enforcement and the Washington County coroner over whether an autopsy was needed for the investigation of a stillborn fetus at a Peters Township home led to the “king’s bench” petition filed last month with the state Supreme Court.

According to court filings to the high court, Peters Township police investigators and District Attorney Jason Walsh wanted Coroner Tim Warco’s office to perform an autopsy on the remains of the 28-week-old fetus, despite the cause and manner of death expected to be undetermined.

Warco’s solicitor, Timothy Uhrich, said the autopsy was both costly and unnecessary, but the coroner’s office was pushed to perform it to “appease and accommodate” law enforcement, who apparently had already labeled the situation a homicide investigation shortly after arriving at the Peters Township home last August. Uhrich took exception with law enforcement’s characterization of the investigation and questioned the insistence on having an autopsy performed.

“Whether it was viable or unviable, it was still a fetus. It was stillbirth,” Uhrich said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s not a homicide, so there would be no reason for us to do an autopsy on a stillborn fetus. … Why would we do an autopsy on remains in which we would never reach a cause and manner of death?”

The coroner’s office performed the autopsy, but was unable to determine the cause of death. But it is refusing to hand over the results as the ongoing feud between the coroner and district attorney has escalated over the past two-and-a-half years.

Walsh, along with Peters Township solicitor John Smith and Washington County solicitor Gary Sweat, filed a “king’s bench” petition March 19 asking the state Supreme Court to settle the dispute and compel the coroner’s office to hand over autopsy and death investigation records without charging law enforcement.

Uhrich said that he was shocked that the petitioners in their filing referred to the deceased as a “minor child” rather than a stillborn fetus, which he said shows an apparent attempt to misrepresent the situation with the high court.

“To make that representation to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, that was an intentional misrepresentation,” Uhrich said. “This is not a subtle difference. Why they did that, you’ll have to ask them.”

Smith said in a phone interview Wednesday that Peters Township police were “investigating a potential homicide,” and that the coroner was required to conduct an autopsy for the death of a child. Smith said the township did not know it was a stillborn death until reading Uhrich’s response this week. The results have still not been turned over to investigators nearly eight months later, which has kept the case open without a final determination.

“His response was no,” Smith said. “We had to file a lawsuit if we want to get this determined.”

Walsh said Wednesday that they needed an autopsy in the Peters Township case because they were unsure what happened.

“Nobody knew anything. They didn’t give any information to Peters Township,” Walsh said, adding that the coroner’s filing does not address the underlying roots of the case. “They didn’t focus on any of the points that they’re refusing to turn (the autopsies) over, which is self-evident, as you’ve seen.”

Peters Township attempted to intervene in several criminal cases with the district attorney while trying to compel the coroner’s office to turn over autopsy and death investigation records, which President Judge Valarie Costanzo dismissed in November because she determined it was a civil matter. The township then filed a civil lawsuit then next month against the coroner in Washington County Court of Common Pleas, and the matter remains before Judge Michael Lucas.

Uhrich, who filed his response Tuesday to the king’s bench petition, questioned why the township decided to go directly to the high court with the case still being considered by the lower court.

“I’m still confused by the use of king’s bench or extraordinary jurisdiction, especially with the matter still before the lower court,” Uhrich said.

Smith responded that the ongoing dispute between the coroner’s office and district attorney and law enforcement has brought them to the point where a decision needs to be made to settle the issue.

“We just want a resolution,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, we just want clarity so the coroner, the DA and the police department can work together again. Hopefully it will be soon.”

The district attorney’s detectives executed a search warrant on the coroner’s office in November and retrieved reports from five death investigations that remain open. The coroner has said he needs the police’s criminal investigation reports to help make final determinations, although those are protected and not open to non-law enforcement entities.

“It could affect homicide prosecutions if (investigators) give the coroner these investigative reports,” Smith said. “The case is stuck. We need to have the court resolve this one way or another. Because it’s bigger than our case.”

It’s not known if the Supreme Court will take up the case or how long it might take for a ruling if it decides to hear arguments.