The coroner may issue subpoenas for witnesses returnable forthwith or at such time and place as the coroner may appoint, which may be served by any competent person. The coroner must summon and examine as witnesses, on oath administered by the coroner, every person, who, in his or her opinion or that of any of the jury, has any knowledge of the facts. A witness served with a subpoena may be compelled to attend and testify, or be punished by the coroner for disobedience, in like manner as upon a subpoena issued by a district judge.
RCW 36.24.050
Power to summon witnesses—Subpoenas.
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 125 Wash. 2d 129 - Carrick v. Locke (1994)
Most recently applied in Family of Butts v. Constantine (July 2021)
1987 c 202 s 203; 1963 c 4 s 36.24.050
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.