Ex-Coroner Jim Curtice's drug trial to remain in Yakima County

Former Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice’s trial on official misconduct and other charges will stay in Yakima County.

Benton County District Court Judge Terry Tanner, who is hearing the case due to conflicts of interest with the district court bench, ruled Tuesday that there was no evidence that pretrial publicity and statements by county officials and police chiefs tainted potential jurors.

“Yakima County is big enough where I’m sure we can find six, seven or eight people that don’t know anything about the case and don’t even know who the coroner is,” Tanner said. District court juries have six people.

Curtice, who resigned as Yakima County Coroner in April, has been charged with official misconduct, evidence tampering and providing false information to a government official — all gross misdemeanors with a maximum penalty of a year in jail.

He was charged after admitting to a YPD detective and an FBI agent that he spiked his own drink mix with fentanyl and accused his chief deputy of trying to kill him to cover up after he overdosed in his office in August 2024, according to a probable cause affidavit. He told police he was snorting drugs he found on corpses, the affidavit said.

Curtice’s attorneys, Bill Pickett and Brett Goodman, sought to have Curtice’s trial moved out of the county, citing both media coverage and calls for Curtice’s resignation from county elected officials and Valley police chiefs. They argued in court papers that Curtice would not be able to be tried by an impartial jury.

Curtice placed himself on paid administrative leave and checked himself into Deer Hollow, the same rehab he went to following a 2023 incident where he got into a fight with sheriff’s deputies while drunk.

On Oct. 10, 2024, Yakima County Commissioners Amanda McKinney, Kyle Curtis and LaDon Linde issued a letter calling on Curtice to resign, citing their lack of confidence in Curtice performing his duties. That letter was also signed by Sheriff Bob Udell and county Auditor Charles Ross.

As an elected official, Curtice could only leave office if he resigned, was recalled or voted out at the end of his term. Three Yakima County Republican precinct committee chairs launched a drive to put a recall on the ballot.

Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic reviewed the letter but did not sign it due to a conflict of interest. He said Curtice had spoken to him about his overdose, making Brusic a potential witness in the criminal case.

Brusic brought in outside prosecutors to try the case because of that conflict.

Curtice was charged in January 2025 in the case.

On March 12, 2025, Udell and the police chiefs of Union Gap, Selah, Yakima, Moxee, Toppenish, Wapato, Grandview, Zillah, and Sunnyside issued their own letter asking Curtice to “do the honorable thing and resign from his position immediately.”

Curtice resigned in April 2025, after reaching a settlement with the county in which he was paid six months’ salary. His chief deputy, Marshall Slight, was appointed as interim coroner in May and was elected to the remaining year of Curtice’s term in November.

Goodman argued that the letters received coverage in the news, along with Curtice’s charges and ongoing legal issues, generating prejudice against him in the pending trial.

“Nowhere in the statements from the county commissioners and the top law enforcement officials do they mention that Mr. Curtice is presumed innocent of the charges he faces,” Goodman said. “Nowhere in those statements does it say the criminal justice system and the integrity needs to be upheld and valued. And nowhere do the statements talk about a fair and impartial jury.”

Goodman said local news outlets and talk radio have covered the case, with the stories being picked up by newspapers and TV stations around the state.

Margita Dornay, the Union Gap prosecutor who is handling Curtice’s case for the county, said while there has been publicity, it is still possible to seat an impartial jury in Yakima County.

She cited the murder trial of John Munzanreder, who was convicted in the 2013 killing of his wife, Cynthia Kelley-Munzanreder, outside a Union Gap movie theater in 2013. In that case, Munzanreder’s attorney asked for a change of venue citing extensive publicity.

In the 2015 hearing on that subject, Yakima County Superior Court Judge David Elofson found that Yakima County’s population base was large enough to find impartial jurors.

“Here we are 10 years out, and the population of Yakima County has grown exponentially and a significant amount of time has passed" since the letters about Curtice were issued, Dornay said.

She said the letters never said that Curtice was guilty but argued that in light of the allegations the officials believed Curtice needed to step down.

Curtice’s trial was to have started Jan. 12, but Dornay and Goodman asked to reschedule, with a pretrial hearing set for March.