Governor appoints new coroner in Perry County

Gov. Jay Nixon appointed Jim W. Martin of Perryville, Missouri, as the new Perry County coroner Wednesday.

Martin is retired from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where he was an instructor for children with severe developmental disabilities, and he is a substitute teacher at Parkview School, according to a news release issued by the governor’s office. Before working with the DESE, Martin was an outreach and investigative specialist for Missouri Protection and Advocacy Services. He was an education and rehabilitative training specialist for people with developmental disabilities at Terrace Gardens Intermediate Care Facilities. For 14 years, he was a quality-control specialist with Procter & Gamble.

Martin is a Democrat and a lifelong resident of Perry County. He also is a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War. He has a bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State University, the news release said.

“Jim Martin has a long record of service to others and is already known to many people in his home county,” Nixon wrote in a statement. “I am confident he will ably serve the citizens of Perry County as their new coroner.”

Martin replaces Herbert Miller, who was Perry County coroner for 20 years and owns a funeral home in Perryville. Miller resigned Dec. 15 after he was sentenced to five years of probation and $80,000 in restitution. Miller was convicted Oct. 16 of felony financial exploitation of the elderly. A woman granted him power of attorney in 2004; from 2011 through 2013 he wrote 80 checks to cash or to his funeral home from her account.

Perry County Commissioner James Sutterer was not sure whether Martin’s lack of funeral-home credentials will make any difference in how he will carry out his coroner duties.

“As far as what the statute says, you don’t have to have any of that knowledge to be a coroner,” Sutterer said.

Sutterer said he was surprised by the news of the appointment but excited. Sutterer is a member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post with Martin, although he has not worked with him in the past.

“He’s a good man,” Sutterer said.

Martin was not immediately available for comment.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

710 S. Kingshighway, Perryville, Mo.