Yakima County's chief deputy coroner and medical examiner have a simple message for county officials:
Either coroner Jim Curtice resigns, or they quit.
"I pretty much told them that if (Curtice) comes back, I won't be there," said Marshall Slight, who is serving as acting coroner since Curtice went on leave after admitting to police that he was using drugs found on dead bodies.
Slight and Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, who has performed autopsies for the county for 40 years, said they can no longer trust Curtice, who is accused of using drugs he found in the course of his job and, after overdosing, accusing Slight of trying to poison him.
"I can't trust him," Reynolds said. "Bearing false witness against thy neighbor is one of the big 10," a reference to the Bible's Ten Commandments.
Slight said he could not continue to work with someone he said tried to frame him for attempted murder.
Yakima County Commissioner LaDon Linde said he was aware of Slight and Reynolds' ultimatum but said he and his fellow commissioners cannot do more than urge Curtice to resign, as they already have done in a letter signed by the commissioners and two other elected officials.
"We want a smooth-running coroner's office going forward, and one that people can depend on and trust," Linde said.
Curtice is an elected official and can only be removed if he is recalled, voted out of office or resigns. His term is up in 2026.
He did not respond to messages left on Facebook messenger and email.
On leave
Curtice has been on paid leave since Sept. 13, a day after he admitted to Yakima police detectives that he was not poisoned but was using drugs he found on dead bodies and tried to implicate Slight, who unsuccessfully challenged him in the 2022 election.
The Ellensburg city attorney is weighing whether to charge Curtice with making false statements to police, evidence tampering and official misconduct, all gross misdemeanors that carry a sentence of up to a year in jail.
Police referred the case to the Ellensburg prosecutor to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic said Curtice had talked to him after his overdose, making Brusic a potential witness in any criminal proceeding.
Curtice went to the police Aug. 27, a day after his wife, Kristi 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.
In that interview, Curtice said he would be contacting Deer Hollow, a rehabilitation center in Utah that specializes in working with first responders who have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a recording obtained through a public records request by the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Deer Hollow would not confirm whether Curtice was being treated at the facility in Draper, Utah.
Curtice went to Deer Hollow in 2023 after kicking a Yakima County sheriff's deputy during an incident at his home when Curtice was intoxicated.
At the time, Curtice's wife said her husband acted out as a result of PTSD she said was the result of childhood trauma and his work as a paramedic.
Brusic said that he would not charge Curtice with third-degree assault in that incident because of Curtice's intoxication and mental state.
Coroner's office
Slight said the office has been running smoothly since Curtice's departure, and he's been fixing reports that Curtice incorrectly filled out before he left.
He also changed the office's procedures for dealing with drugs. If any drugs are found in an autopsy involving foul play, police take the drugs as evidence. They are noted in a log.
Slight said Curtice betrayed a trust with him, and he said he would not be able to work with him again.
"I don't know of any other people who would want to work there," Slight said.
Reynolds said Curtice not only betrayed his trust, but the community's as well. Reynolds was the county's longtime medical examiner until he retired, but came back to assist the coroner's office with homicides and child deaths due to a shortage of forensic pathologists.
He said Curtice's actions could undermine police investigations that rely on the coroner's findings of cause and manner of death.
"Imagine the current coroner appearing in court," Reynolds said. "Any defense attorney would eat him alive."
Commissioners call for resignation
In October, Linde, county commissioners Amanda McKinney and Kyle Curtis, Auditor Charles Ross and Sheriff Bob Udell signed a letter to Curtice asking him to step down because they have lost confidence in his ability to serve.
Linde said he has heard from people in the community who have come to the same conclusion about Curtice. Slight deserves praise for keeping the office running smoothly, Linde said.
While Brusic said he reviewed the letter in his role as the county's legal counsel, he did not sign it because of his conflict of interest in the case.
Linde said Curtice has not responded to the letter.
"The one thing I have heard is he is trying to deal with personal issues," Linde said, echoing a statement he made in September. "He's going to be taking more time to resolve those."
In September, Linde said Curtice was taking a four-to-six-week leave, which would have expired around the middle of October. County records show he is paid $11,129 a month.
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