Rep. Case Brittain is seen before the start of the Education and Public Works Full Committee meeting in Columbia, S.C. on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (Travis Bell/Statehouse Carolina/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA— Unlike other officials on the scene when someone dies, a coroner isn’t required to be fingerprinted for the job.
A bill advancing in the House aims to change that. It would require fingerprinting and background checks of candidates for county coroners months before the November election.
“We’re in people’s houses all the time — a lot of times without law enforcement, EMS — and we’re in contact with some valuable stuff that belongs to people,” said Sumter County Coroner Robbie Baker.
“I think people want to know that their coroner that comes into that house is not a convicted felon who has some dark past,” said the legislative liaison for the South Carolina Coroners Association.
In South Carolina, voters elect the coroner for their county who’s responsible for investigating suspicious deaths, determining cause of death and notifying relatives of the deceased. The state’s 46 elected coroners also employ hundreds of unelected deputy coroners.
Last May, a former chief deputy in the Aiken County Coroner’s Office was charged with misconduct in office and possession of a controlled substance. Alton Smith was accused by the State Law Enforcement Division of taking prescription drugs from two homes during death investigations and keeping them, according to the warrant.
“To see the kinds of materials that go out of the house: It’s prescription bottles, all kinds of things. So, it’s very important to know who’s going into those houses,” said Rep. Case Brittain, R-Myrtle Beach, chairman of the House subcommittee that advanced the bill.
It would require fingerprints of coroner candidates to be submitted to SLED, which will check for any criminal history, at least 130 days before the November election.
Candidates would pay the $25 cost as part of their filing fee to run for the office, Baker told the committee.
Baker served in the sheriff’s department for more than three decades before voters first elected him coroner in 2016. So, he was already fingerprinted. He said other sheriffs around the state were shocked when he told them other coroners weren’t.
“I’ve spoken to several sheriffs across the state, including mine. They are all in favor of (the bill),” Baker told the subcommittee.
The bill would also require coroners to have experience before they take the job.
To be a coroner in South Carolina, state law requires candidates to be at least 21 years old, a registered voter and resident of the county for at least a year.
They also need to meet at least one of seven qualifying criteria. The seven possibilities for eligible experience include being a medical doctor or having at least three years of experience in death investigations.
On the low end is simply being enrolled in a recognized degree or certification program that must be completed within one year of being elected coroner. The bill would require completion, not just enrollment.
“We’ve been trying to get this through for some time,” said Bobbi Jo O’Neal, the Charleston County coroner and president of the state Coroners Association.
Coroner elections don’t get the attention of gubernatorial or congressional elections, but they have provided drama in the Palmetto State due to the lax education requirements.
“This is a good time for us to remove this loophole,” O’Neal said.
The subcommittee chairman agreed.
“I would definitely take my chances with the doctor that went to school all the way through that has probably practiced and been through training than the doctor who is not finished with school,” Brittain said.