Longtime Fayette County coroner faces same opponent for third time this election

For the third straight general election, voters in Fayette County will choose between incumbent Democrat Gary Ginn and rival Republican Larry Owens to serve as Fayette County coroner.

Ginn, who first became the coroner in 2002 after beating Richard Bottoms by less than 2,000 votes, beat Owens by 22 points in 2014 and seven points in 2018. Ginn argues that his vast experience as coroner makes him worthy of re-election, while Owens has argued it’s time for a change.

“Every election that I have been in, including this sixth election, I have had 100% of all funeral homes, mortuaries and crematories to endorse me as their coroner,” Ginn said. “This year I have the same, so this makes six elections that I have had the confidence of these folks, and I work with these folks everyday.”

Meanwhile, Owens said he’s “going to bring professionalism, transparency, respect to the office, restore that.”

According to Ginn, his office was the first coroner’s office in Kentucky to have all its deputies certified by American Board of Medical Legal Death Investigators as official death investigators. Ginn received his certification in 2014.

Ginn, who was a part of the Department of Criminal Justice’s first formal basic coroners training course, has also reached the rank of “master coroner,” the highest a coroner can be ranked by the Coroner’s Association of Kentucky.

Ginn also received a certificate of special recognition by the National Transportation Safety Board for his efforts in the response to the deadly plane crash of Comair flight No. 5191 in Lexington.

“I still enjoy doing it and I’ve achieved a whole lot of things while I’ve been coroner as well,” Ginn said.

But Ginn and his office have been the subject of controversy during his time as coroner. In 2018 he was investigated by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission for alleged sexual harassment in the workplace. He was later sued by a former deputy coroner who claimed Ginn grabbed her butt as she climbed down a ladder, bragged about trips to strip clubs and made vulgar and degrading comments about women.

A judge later found no evidence of a sexual hostile work environment.

“It’s almost like you’re guilty until you prove yourself innocent in these situations,” Ginn said during an interview with the Herald-Leader. “I did not come back with any loaded guns and start demeaning anybody by these accusations that were made against me.”

The most recent controversy came up when the mother of a Lexington teenager who died in a snowboarding accident in Utah said Ginn’s office didn’t properly handle the situation when they came to notify her of her son’s death.

Nathan Burnett’s family said that after Burnett died, a deputy coroner from Ginn’s office showed up at their home, gave the mother a phone number for the authorities in Utah, and left without giving her any information.

A new law was created in response to the incident, which requires coroners and deputy coroners to go through grief training to receive their monthly compensation. That training will be at least a four-hour course conducted by the Department of Criminal Justice Training.

Ginn voiced support for the required training, saying he’s asked for additional money for training every year since he’s been coroner.

“I’m all about education, I’m all about extra training,” Ginn said. “I think this just adds to the credibility of the coroners to have this additional training, and I’m sorry that it was motivated in the way it was.”

Owens said he talked to Burnett’s mother about the incident and apologized for how it was handled. He said if he’s elected, one of the things he wants to do is change how death notifications are conducted.

“I said ‘look, this is not the way it’s done. This is not how it should be done,’” Owens said. “You don’t drive up in front of somebody’s house and hand them a piece of torn-off paper with a name and a phone number on your business card and say, ‘here, you need to call this number.’ You don’t do that.”

Owens has worked in public service most of his life. He’s worked as corrections officer, firefighter and a paramedic. He’s also worked with a funeral home ambulance service

He has also worked as a deputy coroner with the Jessamine County, Woodford County and Fayette County coroners offices.

Owens believes one of the most important parts of a coroner’s duties is dealing with grieving families. That’s something he learned from his days with the funeral service.

“Dealing with a family is probably the number one most important aspect of a funeral service and how you handle it, and I haven’t ever forgotten that,” Owens said.

GARY GINN

Age: 65

Previous work experience: Licensed funeral director and embalmer for Whitehall Funeral Chapel, former coordinator of the body bequeathal program at the Anatomy & Neurobiology Department from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

Any offices currently or previously held: Current Fayette County Coroner (2003-present), former Fayette County Deputy Coroner and Chief Deputy for Chester Hager.

LARRY OWENS

Age: 67

Previous work experience: Former deputy coroner for 15 years, former U.S. Department of Justice corrections officer for 15 years, former Fayette County deputy jailer, former firefighter, former paramedic with a 911 EMS service, christian minister evangelist.

Any offices currently or previously held: None

This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 11:00 AM.

Christopher Leach

Lexington Herald-Leader

Chris Leach is a breaking news reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the newspaper in September 2021 after previously working with the Anderson News and the Cats Pause. Chris graduated from UK in December 2018. Support my work with a digital subscription