Updated 6:43 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod quashed his own arrest warrants following the coroner’s inquest into Ronda Reynolds death out of concern of getting sued, he indicated in a news release yesterday.
Warren McLeod, Lewis County Coroner
McLeod said he issued arrest warrants for her husband, Ron Reynolds, and his son, Jonathan Reynolds, last Wednesday evening, following the conclusion by the inquest jury the pair were responsible for the homicide of the former state trooper in 1998.
He delivered the warrants to the sheriff’s office that night so they could be served, he said.
McLeod said he was notified first thing Thursday morning by the prosecutor’s office a legal issue had been brought to their attention.
“I was also advised that if the warrants were served prior to the legal issue being investigated and resolved the county could be liable for lawsuits,” McLeod wrote. “Based on this information I quashed the warrants and began an investigation into the legal issue.”
The coroner won’t reveal what the issue is.
He does say he will disclose it on Friday morning, speak about his investigation into it and it will be resolved that day.
Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer has given himself until Thursday morning to decide if any criminal charges will be filed against the Reynolds’ men. He’s said he’s spent numerous hours going through the sheriff’s office case file and the evidence heard by the inquest jury.
Meyer plans to announce his decision on Thursday morning at the Lewis County Law and Justice Center.
Under state law regarding coroner’s inquests, if a jury panel returns with a conclusion of homicide and also names the person or person responsible, the coroner is required to issue an arrest warrant, unless they are already in custody.
McLeod didn’t say who might sue Lewis County. He said today he’s not even sure who raised the issue with the prosecutor’s office.
It wasn’t attorneys for Ron or Jonathan Reynolds, he said.
McLeod, elected last November, conducted the inquest – a rarity in Washington state – in hopes of finding a resolution in the controversial case.
Reynolds, 33, was preparing to leave her husband of less than a year when she was found fatally shot in the head, on the floor of their walk-in closet, with a turned-on electric blanket covering her in their Toledo home.
Ron Reynolds, principal at Toledo Elementary School, told authorities he was asleep and did not hear the gunshot.
The Dec. 16, 1998 death was closed as suicide despite protests from Lewis County Sheriff’s Office lead detective Jerry Berry, and within a week after Ron Reynolds’ attorney had threatened to file a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office if they didn’t cease the investigation.
McLeod today called it a “major” legal issue, perhaps better described as a constitutional issue.
“It there is a multi-million dollar lawsuit and we lose, it could bankrupt the county,” McLeod said. “Just defending those can bankrupt the county.”
The coroner indicated he’s not comfortable having set aside his statutory obligation.
“Let’s just say had the arrest warrants been served, and the folks gone before a judicial officer, a judge, and the legal issue brought up, more likely than not the judge would have put everything on hold,” he said.
The coroner said his suspension of the warrant process and his decision to sort through it publicly on Friday is entirely independent of the Prosecutor Meyer’s timing and decision about any potential criminal charges.
“Even if he announces on Thursday he will not prosecute, that does not relive me of my statutory obligation to issue the warrants,” McLeod said.
McLeod plans to reconvene the inquest at 9 a.m. on Friday.
He’s not asking the jury to deliberate further.
He plans to disclose the details of the legal issue, and put any offering of information about it on the record and have it given under oath.
He said he could have done it sooner, but chose Friday in part to lessen the hardship on the inquest jurors “employment-wise.”
“If it turns out it’s not an issue at all, the warrants will go forward,” he said.
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Read background on the inquest, here
Read state statutes regarding county coroner, here
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