Judge grants coroner extension; county adds payroll to cover

A judge granted Coroner Wavis Jordan's request for a 20-day extension this week to respond to the Missouri Attorney General's attempt to remove him from office.

A judge has already ruled to suspend Jordan from his duties while the legal battle plays out. The process of removing an elected officeholder is a rare occurrence in Missouri. Laws generally protect officeholders from removal except in rare circumstances.

Cape Girardeau County still must pay Jordan his salary while he is suspended. In the meantime, the county has hired an additional deputy coroner to handle the work. That position, which brings the number of coroner deputies to three, has added $46,415 to the coroner's payroll budget, according to Cape Girardeau County Auditor Pete Frazier. The amount includes the cost of benefits. That's almost $900 per week the county will spend while Jordan fights the charges.

Judge Jerel Lee Poor II granted Jordan's request for a 20-day extension on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The attorney general's office filed its Quo Warranto filing on Feb. 8, giving Jordan 10 days to file an answer to the petition. During that order, the judge ruled that Jordan was to not perform any of his duties as coroner or even enter the office. On Feb. 16, Poor granted an extension, followed by another extension on Wednesday, which would push the deadline to March 19.

All of Jordan's filings appear to have been written by himself. No attorney was listed on Missouri's online court records system as of Friday morning. In one of his messages filed to the court Jordan told the judge that he had spoken to an attorney.

The Cape Girardeau County government is not providing legal support for Jordan's court battle.

The attorney general accuses Jordan of making false reports on three death certificates, a Class E felony, and of stealing less than $20 from a deceased person's wallet, a misdemeanor. The Quo Warranto filing is a civil matter, but the AG's office also filed criminal charges against Jordan.