State high court upholds Kevin Coe's commitment
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The Washington Supreme Court has upheld the sexually violent predator civil commitment of Kevin Coe, who was arrested in 1981 following dozens of rapes in Spokane attributed to the South Hill rapist.
Coe served 25 years in prison for a single conviction, and since 2006 has remained incarcerated at the state's Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.
The Supreme Court's Thursday decision means Coe has exhausted all legal avenues at the state level to win his freedom.
Coe and his attorneys appealed his commitment on the argument that a lower court judge erred when she allowed assistant attorneys general to introduce evidence from 36 sexual assaults that did not result in criminal charges against Coe. They also said he had ineffective counsel and deserved a new trial.
Coe served 25 years in prison for a single conviction, and since 2006 has remained incarcerated at the state's Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.
The Supreme Court's Thursday decision means Coe has exhausted all legal avenues at the state level to win his freedom.
Coe and his attorneys appealed his commitment on the argument that a lower court judge erred when she allowed assistant attorneys general to introduce evidence from 36 sexual assaults that did not result in criminal charges against Coe. They also said he had ineffective counsel and deserved a new trial.
Such a relief! This guy is lower than maggots.
I was living in Spokane at the time and remembered the car he was driving after he was arrested. There wasn't designer plates at the time. His have a colored plastic cover on it. Not too many cars had those so it caught our attention. It followed the bus routes, and my bf lived on a route so saw his car quite often. He did terrible things to women, in addition to the rapes. His mother was a loon also. If she was reading Gone With the Wind, she "became" Scarlett. Family owned Coe Publishing.Â
 @DinAuburnI believe you are actually thinking of Cowles Publishing, although most of Spokane (or much of Eastern Washington, for that matter) doesn't hold the Cowles family in much higher esteem than they do the Coe family. Â
A vile monster who should have been executed for his crimes.
So, they just need to charge him with all the counts, so he can stay in jail until he rots...or the consecutive sentences are completed, which ever comes first...
Unfortunately, there is a statute of limitations on sex-crimes. Even if he jumped up on the top of a squadcar & used the PA system to confess to every grisly detail of every one of those crimes, he cannot now be charged (at least in THIS State) for any of those crimes. If I recall, many of the victims of the South Hill Rapist were too aftaid to testify against him in open court and several of the cases were either plea bargained down or dismissed for lack of evidence. Prosecutors declined to prosecute because they were afraid they would not get a conviction & if he were acquited, he would get away "scott-free" and living loose among us. They took the case they had the best chance of winning and won- and he got locked away.
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I also believe his is the first case ever of civil commitment (which is what he is currently fighting) where he has served his original criminal sentance but was then deemed such a threat to society that they locked him away under the civil committment INDEFINITELY. Thank God.Â
@Mr. H -- I agree. Why didn't the other 36 sexual assaults result in criminal charges. Maybe, Komo, you should look into thta for us.Â
 @Bianca It's hard enough to find truth in media. Komo would render an investigation that would barely scratch the surface of the truth.
 @komoispropaganda If you have such disdain for KOMO and its reporting why bother reading or watching their reports?