Attorney: Yakima Coroner Jim Curtice must resign or face recall vote

YAKIMA – An attorney representing three Yakima County Republican Party officers has given Coroner Jim Curtice a choice: resign or be recalled.

Zachary A. Stambaugh, an attorney representing GOP Precinct Committee Officers Kenton Gartrell, Steve Edwards and Roy Dove, told Curtice he needed to offer a letter of resignation by Monday or Stambaugh would initiate a recall election.

“The outcome is practically inevitable,” Stambaugh warned in his letter. “Please spare us all that process.”

Curtice has been on a self-imposed paid administrative leave since Sept. 13, a day after he admitted to Yakima police that he was using drugs found on dead bodies and accusing his chief deputy of trying to poison him to cover it up.

Attempts to contact Curtice for this story were not successful, as he did not return phone calls left on his personal number.

The Ellensburg city attorney is weighing whether to charge Curtice in the matter. Yakima police recommended Curtice be charged with making false statements to police, evidence tampering and official misconduct, all gross misdemeanors that carry up to a year in jail.

Court records show that no charges had been filed as of Thursday morning.

As an elected official, Curtice can be removed from office only by voters in the general election, through a recall or by his resignation. Yakima County commissioners, the sheriff and the county auditor have all asked Curtice to resign.

Chief Deputy Yakima County Coroner Marshall Slight and Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, who performs autopsies on homicide victims in Yakima County, both said they would resign if Curtice comes back to work, as they could no longer trust him.

Stambaugh’s letter represents the second time Gartrell has attempted to launch a recall election against Curtice. His first attempt in November was rejected after the Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office found that Gartrell’s charges were “factually and legally deficient,” noting that his evidence of Curtice’s wrongdoing consisted of news reports of the allegations.

This time, the Yakima County GOP authorized funding for an attorney to assist Gartrell and the other officers in pursuing a recall effort, party Chairman Matt Brown said.

“Soon after the October board of commissioners’ letter (asking Curtice to resign) came out, we had a meeting to send a letter to (Curtice) asking for his resignation,” Brown said. “We delivered the letter and had no response to it, so the PCOs wanted to take it a step further.”

Brown said it was Curtice’s statements to YPD that pushed the county party to ask for his resignation. Curtice accused Slight of poisoning his workout drink powder and water in a tea kettle with fentanyl, later admitting he was using whatever drugs he found on dead bodies that came into his office.

Curtice’s actions, Brown said, had the potential for putting criminal cases in jeopardy. The coroner certifies the cause and manner of death, and his office is expected to testify in homicide trials.

“We are focused on holding people accountable, and our (elected officials) are living beyond reproach,” Brown said.

The party respects the fact that Curtice and his family are struggling and that Curtice is going through a recovery program, Brown said, but is following the lead of the Board of Yakima County Commissioners.

Curtice was elected as a Republican. If he steps down, the Republican Party PCOs would meet to forward three names to county commissioners for appointment.

In a post on her Facebook page, Kristi Foster, Curtice’s wife, blamed the current incident on Curtice’s post-traumatic stress disorder, which she said earlier was the result of a childhood trauma and his years working as a first responder.

Curtice is believed to have checked into Deer Hollow, a Draper, Utah, rehabilitation center that specializes in working with first responders. Curtice went to Deer Hollow last year after he kicked and knocked over a Yakima County sheriff’s deputy during a drunken fight outside his Naches-area home.

Foster also said that incident was the result of Curtice’s PTSD.

Stambaugh, who defended then-Yakima City Council member Jason White in a recall effort, said if Curtice refuses to step down, the first step will be filing paperwork alleging malfeasance and misfeasance in office, which will be reviewed by the prosecutor’s office. Then, Curtice will be given a chance to either resign or challenge the findings, which would result in a court hearing that would decide whether the recall effort could move forward.

He said he believes there is sufficient evidence for a recall, between the reports from YPD and the fact that the Ellensburg prosecutor is looking at criminal charges.

The process, he added, could take up to six months to complete, which would put a recall question on the ballot a year before Curtice’s term expires at the end of 2026.

“Given that there are two years left in the term, it will not be moot,” Stambaugh said.

Curtice went to the police Aug. 27, a day after Foster found him unconscious in his office, according to a YPD report. Curtice said a drug test at a local hospital found that he had cocaine in his system, and his own test on himself found fentanyl in his system, as well as cocaine and fentanyl in his workout drink powder and the water in an electric kettle in his office, according to a YPD report.

Curtice said he fell ill after taking a sip of an energy drink, the report said.

In the report, Curtice said Slight was the most likely suspect in poisoning him. But after failing a lie detector test, Curtice confessed that he had been taking the drugs he found on bodies and snorting them in his office three times a week for several months, and that he had spiked a sample of his own drink powder and tea kettle water to support his claim he was poisoned.

He told detectives that he would be checking in to Deer Hollow.