DA told coroner to rule baby’s death a homicide, PA records say. ‘Need it to win’
A nonprofit organization is accusing a Pennsylvania district attorney of corruption, coercion and abuse of authority.
The petition comes as a Pennsylvania coroner said he was coerced by a district attorney to rule a 2-month-old baby’s death a homicide to help the attorney’s election.
The Atlantic Center for Capital Representation filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Western District accusing Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh of pursuing unwarranted charges against defendants to qualify their cases for the death penalty.
“D.A. Walsh has abused his power,” Marc Bookman, executive director of the Atlantic Center, said in a July 22 news release. “He is using the death penalty as a political tool and a cruel threat to coerce people into giving up their constitutional rights under a wrongful threat of death. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court must intervene to stop his abuse of the law and his office.”
However, Walsh told McClatchy News the allegations are “completely false.”
2-month-old Sawyer Clarke’s death
The petition details several cases in which Walsh is accused of abusing his authority. One case is the death of 2-month-old Sawyer Clarke.
On May 23, 2022, Jordan Clarke, who had mobility issues, was holding his 2-month-old son, Sawyer, when he tripped over a plastic bag and fell on top of him, he told detectives, according to the petition.
Clarke immediately called for help from Sawyer’s grandfather and aunt, who were also at the home, telling them to call 911, the petition said.
Sawyer was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and the next day he was pronounced dead.
Sawyer was at a hospital in Pittsburgh when he died, so the Allegheny County medical examiner was responsible for conducting an autopsy and determining a cause and manner of death, according to the petition.
However, less than an hour after Sawyer’s death, an assistant district attorney directed the Washington County coroner to perform the autopsy as Walsh obtained an order from a judge to make the switch, the court records said.
In a separate filing dated July 28, Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco said he was coerced by Walsh to determine Sawyer’s manner of death a homicide.
What the coroner said
The Allegheny County medical examiner filed a death certificate for Sawyer on Dec. 23, 2022. It stated Sawyer’s cause of death was intracranial hemorrhage and manner of death was undetermined.
However, on Jan. 4, 2023, Warco filed a separate death certificate stating Sawyer’s cause of death was shaken baby syndrome and the manner of death was homicide, according to court records. This death certificate was not accepted by the state because it lacked jurisdiction, according to the petition.
The July 28 Pennsylvania Supreme Court filing said Warco provided an affidavit stating Walsh told him he wanted Sawyer’s death to be handled in Washington County and to declare it a homicide.
When Warco said he couldn’t take the case because Sawyer died in Allegheny County, Walsh told him, “Don’t worry, I’ll get you a court order,” according to court records.
Walsh told Warco he wanted to move the case because the Allegheny County Medical Examiner wasn’t going to rule the death a homicide and he “needed it to be a homicide,” according to the filing.
Warco said Walsh told him he was running for his first election and part of his platform was “harsh punishment for people who kill infants and children,” court records said. Warco said Walsh told him he needed the case “to be a homicide, I need it to win an election,” the filings said.
Walsh told McClatchy News the allegations against him are not true.
“The Coroner admitted in an affidavit that he perpetrated a fraud and is untruthful. The case was filed in 2022 and he makes a false statement now. This is nothing more than a liberal activist anti-death penalty group trying to bully and circumvent the law because they don’t agree with it,” he said in an email.
Clarke was denied bond and is awaiting a capital trial on charges including homicide and aggravated assault, court records show.
The death penalty
The petition accused Walsh of tampering with cases so he can charge defendants with crimes that qualify for the death penalty.
“In most counties in Pennsylvania, these cases wouldn’t be death penalty cases,” Frances Harvey, staff attorney at the Atlantic Center, said in the news release. “D.A. Walsh is well outside the boundaries of the law. Pursuing death against these people is unconstitutional and cruel.”
Washington County makes up 1.6% of Pennsylvania’s population, but Walsh is prosecuting 26% of the active capital cases in the state, the petition said.
“Since Walsh became the District Attorney of Washington County in August of 2021, his office has sought a death sentence in 11 out of 18 homicides, a shocking percentage (61%) far outside the mainstream of Pennsylvania capital prosecutions,” the petition said.
Walsh told McClatchy News the death penalty is warranted.
“The death penalty is legal and the cases have withstood challenges and ruled to have sufficient evidence to proceed by multiple Trial Court Judges. These cases involve babies, one as young as two months, with brutal, horrific injuries that caused their deaths. One Aggravator to seek the death penalty is the age of the victim. If they are under twelve years of age. These victims are months old. Again, the allegations are nonsensical and false,” he said.
Another case in the petition involves a woman who was facing the death penalty in connection with a fatal shooting, despite her not being at the scene and her only connection to the shooting being her DNA found on a bullet and her relationship with one of the accused shooters, according to the document.
When her charges of conspiracy to commit homicide and possession of an instrument of crime didn’t qualify for the death penalty, Walsh added a charge of criminal homicide, the petition said. All charges against her were dismissed on July 11.
The petition is asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to “assume jurisdiction over this ongoing and repeatable issue, grant relief in their particular cases, and provide guidance to the Washington County District Attorney and the Washington County Courts of Common Pleas.”
