Bill requires SC coroners to be fingerprinted, complete their education

COLUMBIA— Unlike other officials on the scene after 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. Smith’s case is still pending.

“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 last week.

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 a degree 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, having a bachelor’s degree in nursing, or having at least three years of experience in death investigations.

On the seemingly 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 confusion over the education and experience requirements.

In 2012, Baker’s predecessor in Sumter County, Harvin Bullock, appeared to be ousted by his Democratic challenger. But after Bullock lost the primary, a judge ruled the winner, Shawn Ragin, didn’t meet the qualifications necessary to be enrolled in a program recognized by the state Coroners Association. Bullock won re-election by default, The Sumter Item reported.

In 2016, three coroner candidates were removed from ballots — two in Georgetown County and one in Laurens County. All three rulings involved the education enrollment clause.

O’Neal, the GOP Charleston County coroner, filed suit over the issue.

In 2020, she sued to keep her opponent off the ballot, arguing the Scotland-based program that Democrat Herbert Fielding was enrolled in wasn’t properly recognized. The lawsuit was dismissed after Fielding enrolled in a different program, The Post and Courier reported.

O’Neal ultimately won that November by just 1 percentage point over Fielding, who wouldn’t have been allowed to run under the proposed rule of completing the program.

“This is a good time for us to remove this loophole,” O’Neal told legislators.

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.