FACTS:

• To be a coroner, one merely needs to be 18, a U.S. citizen, a resident of the county he or she will serve and cannot have a felony conviction.
• In a survey of Colorado coroners across the state, only a handful are forensic pathologists.
• Colorado’s 63 county coroners are mostly elected and aren’t required to have a medical degree.
• Colorado coroners are ELECTED and as such they do not have to answer to the DA, to law enforcement, to defense lawyers, to the hospital establishment, or to the medical establishment.
• When the coroner is not a pathologist (as in Morgan’s case) they contract with an independent pathologist (Pathologist Dr. Robert Kurtzman did Morgan’s autopsy) who does the autopsy for a fee.  The more autopsies a pathologist can do ‘quickly’ the more money they make, an obvious conflict of interest.
• The coroner in Morgan’s case, Trey Holt, NEVER spoke to us, NEVER got on the phone with us, NEVER would speak with us when we showed up at his office (they always said he was NEVER there), NEVER would allow a meeting to be scheduled with us, NEVER answered out letters, NEVER even would speak with the FBI agent that was trying to facilitate a meeting between us all so we could show him the evidence that his contracted pathologist would not look at.
• Colorado has counties with deputy coroners with no training in death. investigations, as in Garfield County, CO – exactly like the deputy coroner that came to Morgan’s crime scene – the coroner NEVER came to the crime scene.
• Colorado is one of 14 states that still relies on a civilian coroner system, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – the other states have gone to centralized medical examiner systems, where doctors, not civilians, are in charge.
• Many times it comes down to whether or not the coroner wants to spend money out of their budget, to investigate – investigations are expensive, and testing is expensive, but here we are, citizens/co-victims who think the coroner is going to investigate and tell them if their loved one was really murdered…but that is not what is happening – many cases are not listed correctly, and the murder is overlooked, evidence swept under the rug.
• Colorado’s coroner system needs to change, and that would require new legislation.  It is not impossible for that to happen and it is needed ASAP if justice is important!
• What if your loved one was the victim of murder, and the coroner turned a blind eye, swept it under the rug with a ruling of Natural Causes, Suicide or Accidental death?  Sadly that is exactly what has happened in many, many cases across Colorado because of their archaic coroner’s system.
• Families should not have to fight against the coroner to get justice for their loved ones…it’s just not right – it only leads to re-victimization of the victims.
• http://www.9news.com/article/news/local/investigations/coroners-in-colorado-have-an-important-job-with-few-requirements-to-get-it/73-502853238
• https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2014/01/23/3339/