Dec 2, 2023 By Mike Jones 4 min read

Washington County detectives and state police searched the office of Coroner Timothy Warco’s solicitor Thursday afternoon, two days after they did the same at the coroner’s office looking for documents related to the recent inquest into a fatal police shooting.

Multiple officers rummaged through documents at the Carnegie office of Timothy Uhrich and left with “several papers, binders, and copies” of investigative materials related to the April 2 police shooting in Washington that killed a motorist, according to the unsealed search warrant.

“The fact that they would raid an attorney’s office for this is absolutely outrageous,” Uhrich said Friday. “It’s unprecedented.”

A similar search was conducted Tuesday morning at the coroner’s office in Washington, although that warrant was sealed by President Judge John DiSalle, so information on what was seized has not been released. The warrant for the search at Uhrich’s office was made public because it was filed at District Judge Jack Kobistek’s office in Crafton, and magistrates are not permitted to seal such records.

While the inventory listing seized items is light on details, the two-page affidavit of probable cause that enabled the search offers background on what prompted it and what criminal accusations are being alleged by District Attorney Jason Walsh. The affidavit confirms that the issue centers around the shooting by Mt. Pleasant Township police Officer Tyler Evans that killed 38-year-old Eduardo Lee Hoover following a lengthy chase from Burgettstown that ended on Jefferson Avenue in Washington.

The court documents also cite the coroner’s inquest convened by Warco in October that came to the conclusion that Evans should be held “criminally liable” for the shooting in spite of Walsh’s earlier determination that the killing was justified. Walsh said in a press conference following the inquest that he would not be filing charges despite Warco’s findings.

The affidavit, signed by county Detective Matthew Collins, appears to take exception with the presentation of dashboard videos and body cameras at the scene that recorded the shooting and were played at the inquest before being disseminated to several news outlets. It also indicates that Walsh’s office demanded that Warco and Uhrich return all copies and notes from the investigative files back to the district attorney’s office by Nov. 22, which did not happen.

“These records are not public records, and the Coroner and any private attorney actions in concert with the Coroner’s behalf are not a defined criminal justice agency under the Criminal History Records Information Act,” the affidavit claims.

The affidavit accuses Uhrich – and by association Warco – of being in violation of misdemeanor tampering with public records or information in which someone “intentionally and unlawfully destroys, conceals, removes or otherwise impairs the verity or availability of any such record, document or thing.” Uhrich denied that allegation and said the records, which are merely copies of the original investigative files, were obtained through legal subpoenas from the coroner’s office.

Uhrich called Walsh’s actions “unethical” and surmised that his detectives went through a magistrate to obtain the warrant because he doubted that a judge in Allegheny County would have signed off on such a search of a private lawyer’s office.

“I find it outrageous that they would come up here and use a magistrate and not go to the (Allegheny County) Court of Common Pleas where it was highly unlikely they would have secured the warrant to raid an attorney’s office.”

Walsh said Friday that he could not discuss any aspects of the search warrant or a possible criminal investigation, but he took exception with Warco’s and Uhrich’s characterization that it involved a “raid” of their offices.

“They keep using the word raid. There was no raid,” Walsh said. “They sat in (Uhrich’s) lobby and went through the records that he gave them. They did the same thing at the coroner’s office.”

In addition to the search warrant, the district attorney’s office filed a request Friday morning for a temporary restraining order and petition for declaratory relief to ensure other investigative files are not being held at the coroner’s office. That hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning before Judge Michael Lucas in Washington County Court of Common Pleas.