Following critical watchdog report, Idaho bill to clarify coroner death investigation roles

The Idaho State Capitol building in Boise on May 5, 2021. (Otto Kitsinger for the Idaho Capital Sun)

An Idaho lawmaker who co-chairs the Legislature’s bipartisan oversight committee introduced legislation on Monday to clarify death investigation standards for coroners.

Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, told the Idaho Capital Sun the bill is in response to an Office of Performance Evaluations report released in 2024 that found inconsistencies in death investigations across Idaho, driven by sparse guidance in state law.

Last year, when that report was delivered to the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, Wintrow said “every single legislator had a jaw dropping moment of surprise, shock — because they just didn’t know.”

“I think every single one of them said, ‘Now what? What are we going to do about this?’” Wintrow told the Sun in an interview. “And to the coroners’ credit, they gathered this summer and put this bill together.” 

The oversight committee’s co-chairs, Wintrow and Rep. Douglas Pickett, R-Oakley, are co-sponsoring the bill along with Idaho State Association of County Coroners President Torey Danner. 

Wintrow said she and Pickett met with coroners several times on the bill.

The Idaho Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee introduced the bill on a unanimous voice vote Monday.

Introducing the bill tees it up for a full committee hearing, including public testimony and a possible vote to advance it to the Idaho Senate floor. 

The bill is expected to be available online on the Legislature’s website soon — likely later Monday. 

The Idaho Sheriffs’ Association and the Idaho Association of Counties support the bill. The Legislature’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee is also finalizing a letter supporting the bill, Wintrow told the Sun. 

“That report opened everyone’s eyes. And the coroners decided we better work on this to improve things for public safety in our state,” Wintrow told the Sun. “… I applaud that, and I hope the Legislature will be a partner with them and the counties as we move forward to figure out what are the necessary resources to make sure that these death investigations are done in a consistent, credible … way that increases public safety.”

In Idaho, coroners are an elected county-level position, as outlined in the state’s constitution. 

The report by the Office of Performance Evaluations, a watchdog state agency, found deaths in Idaho were half as likely to undergo autopsies than the national rate — and that Idaho had the lowest homicide autopsy rate in the nation. 

In December, a ProPublica investigation found a decades-long pattern of failed attempts to reform Idaho’s coroner system.

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, Idaho Association of Counties Policy Advisor Kelli Brassfield called the bill “the beginning of a bigger plan to make the role of the coroner better and more consistent.”

“Currently there are no laws that speak to the powers and duties of the coroner,” Brassfield wrote. “This legislation will make sure coroners understand their role in the death of an individual.”

After deaths are reported, Idaho coroners must refer the investigation to the local sheriff or chief of police, Andy Creech, Payette County sheriff, wrote in a letter to the committee on behalf of the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association expressing strong support for the bill.

“This amendment would allow coroners to conduct medicolegal death investigations, while the criminal investigation would remain the responsibility of the appropriate law enforcement agency,” Creech wrote.

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