No, it's true.  At least here in the South.  It's written into the general statutes and it was made very clear to us in the Academy.

No they call because it's common courtesy, common sense unless OPSEC, and for deconfliction. Not to "report" in the the Sheriff.

Arrest and announce the manner of his death...
 

That statute exists because normally the Sheriff would be the one serving process within his county, and, well, obviously he can't serve himself. Not because the coroner is the ONLY one who can "arrest" the Sheriff, and the wording of the statute doesn't exclude others from doing it. It just says the coroner has a duty to serve the Sheriff.

If the Feds can arrest the Sheriff, who can arrest the Feds?



The AG ? But who arrests the AG ? Oh Wait...................





 

I wear gold-fringed chaps.  He's fucked.

There's no room for a county, the state is too small According to a list I found in Wikipedia, there are 47 counties in the US that are larger than your state.



 

Is the coroner normally also a sworn/trained leo?

this must be some more libertarian bullshit about sheriffs


GR

They have counties. I lived in Fairfield County.
Just no sheriff etc.

please stop. It will deflate the idea some have that the sheriff is king


GR

Our Sherriff IS the Coroner....weird, but true.

http://www.ocgov.com/ocgov/Sheriff-Coroner%20-%20Sandra%20Hutchens

And female and a gun grabber.

Not in Alabama... but then, the sheriffs position doesn't call for being a sworn/trained LEO either. You do not have to be certified for either position. Just have the school required, and get enough votes. The same also applies to the AG.

There are some interesting notions, misconceptions and accusations of conspiracies floating around in this thread. I suppose that all of the discussion of common law by sovereign citizen types has tainted the topic a bit. But whatever perceptions people have of common law today, thanks to the gold fringed flag crowd, aren’t really relevant to the historical origins of this legal peculiarity.

If I recall correctly, the Coroner goes back to medieval England. Sheriffs were elected / anointed locally and were often corrupt or simply members of the good old boys club. In order to exercise more centralized control and reduce corruption the king imposed a system of appointed coroners to act as his johnny on the spot. My English history professor described the origin of the word as “crowner” implying their purpose; he also described the coroner as the only person empowered to arrest the sheriff.

After the revolution we inherited common law through reception statutes and precedent. Of course much of it has been modified or swept up into code law today and I am unsure of its exact status. My perusing of Pollock and Maitland on the History of English Law for class didn’t cover very many recent occurrences.

Ask a lawyer, not a history major, if you want to know about it today.

TLDR: Relic from English medieval law, modern relevance varies by jurisdiction, feds arrest anyone they want etc.

Gommer Pyle did it.....it was on national tv.  No wait, he arrested Barney.

Around here that would fall to the Undersheriff.

The only person within the County Government that can arrest the Sheriff is the Coroner, it's an old statute that dates back to when FLE consisted of US Marshals often far removed and State Agencies had not been formed. I's generally not applicable today.

 

Okay, of the county.

Feds don't have to report shit to you guys.

They don't have to, but they generally do to keep their investigations from getting even more fucked up than they already are or a major blue on blue clusterfuck.

In SC, a sitting sheriff can only be arrested by the coroner for an alleged "state law" violation, but I'm pretty sure the feds can arrest a sitting sheriff all day long and twice on Sundays.

I understand that and agree, it's just that some are claiming they HAVE TO because the sheriff is the CLEO of the county.

In Maine ,only the Coroners' Assistant Janitor can arrest a sitting Sherrif.

Same here

This... that law applies in my State (best friend's dad was a Sheriff for a while, he confirmed this).  In my State the Coroner is the official designated with the power to arrest the Sheriff.  Of course, cross the Feds, and they'll bust a Sheriff, but that's a different matter.

EDIT:  I see SandboxMedic already covered our State (SC)

Not true almost everywhere.  In some states (like SC, cited above,) the coroner is the person who can arrest a sheriff acting on a warrant, but in LA and MS, for example, anyone, LE or private person, may arrest any sheriff who they have PC to believe committed a felony.  (And in MS, anyone can arrest a sheriff who has committed a misdemeanor in that person's presence.)

I think you are confusing libertarians with sov. cits.