Coe: Inside the courtroom
Time to move on
In case you didn't catch her comment below earlier today, let's let Shelly Monahan have the final word here:
To all of the jurors,
Please know that the entire community knows how difficult your decision was in this case. For all of the victims and their families, thank you. Thank you also for wanting to spend time with me and others after the trial concluded. You will never know how much it meant. I was overwhelmed by each and every one of you.
From the time this rape happened to me, I promised God I would help other sexual assault survivors in any way I could. It was my way of making it out of the rape alive, to give back to other victims, to let them know they would be okay.
My husband and I have prayed about this for a long time. Our God tells us to be forgiving and compassionate. I will pray for Kevin Coe each day. I hope that he seeks treatment and in doing so will some day no longer be a lost soul.
I would also like to thank all of you who have been so very supportive through this process; a process that I never imagined I nor the other victims would go through.
To my family, friends, the management at KHQ, my co-workers, Rick and Karen at the Spokesman, and all of you who have prayed with me and sent your love and support, your kind emails, cards, letters, and phone calls ... thank you.
It is time to move on .... time to finally be able to heal and close this chapter.
Most sincerely, Shelly Monahan
Is it really over?
After his second criminal trial in 1985, Pat Thompson figured she had seen the last of Kevin Coe.
"I never would have guessed 20 years ago after I closed up the case, packed everything away, that this would be back and I would be involved," says Thompson, a former Spokane County deputy prosecutor who helped handle both of Coe's criminal trials.
Instead, Thompson - now an an assistant state attorney general in the Spokane office - found herself working with the AG's Seattle sexual predator experts as they prepared their case for Coe's civil commitment trial.
Her help was invaluable in wading through the sea of evidence, said Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers.
"They'd say, now, Pat, what about this?" Thompson says. "I'd say, I don't remember anything like that.
"Then those little brain cells would go on, and I'd say, OK, I remember now."
Beyond specifics, she also helped the out-of-towners appreciate the impact the South Hill rapes had on the community.
"If you don't live in Spokane, it's hard to understand the whole horror of what was happening," Thompson says.
She wasn't able to come to court this time - or, for that matter, watch the proceedings online or on TV - because she had been subpoenaed by the defense as a potential witness.
So now that Coe has been committed to a mental facility, is Thompson finally free from him?
"Your guess," she says, "is as good as mine."
Still big in Britain
The Kevin Coe case continues to make international news.
An Associated Press story about Thursday's verdict appeared on the Web site of the British newspaper The Guardian, based in Manchester and London.
Rape victims relieved
Two rape victims who have come forward publicly in the Kevin Coe case say they're relieved by the jury's verdict.
Julie Harmia - whose 1980 assault was the only conviction that survived appeals from Coe's criminal trials - said she felt "great relief."
"I'm just about to open a bottle of champagne. I've been on pins and needles," she said from her home in Yakima.
Asked for her reaction, TV anchorwoman Shelly Monahan, who was in the courtroom for the verdict, replied: "Relief - and thanks."
Monahan had tears in her eyes as she hugged Coe's jail guards, the state's two attorneys and victim-witness coordinators from the Spokane County Prosecutor's office.
She is convinced Coe was the man who raped her in 1979, though he never was charged in the case.
A state-hired criminologist testified that the particularly violent assault fit the pattern of Coe's attacks, and a sperm stain found on her jeans matched his blood type.
Both Harmia and Monahan discussed the case in a June "Dateline NBC" broadcast.
Eugster: Jurors not doctors, God
A jury has no business deciding whether Kevin Coe should be committed to a mental facility, says Spokane attorney Steve Eugster.
"How many people on that jury have the training, authority by law to make a medical diagnosis? That's what they're doing," Eugster said of the jury's finding that Coe suffers from a mental abnormality.
"That's like me going to a plumber to get a diagnosis whether I have a heart condition."
As for the jury's decision that Coe is likely to reoffend if released, Eugster said that flies in the face of free will.
"They can't decide that. They're not God," he said.
Eugster, a critic of the civil commitment process, discusses his concerns further at his Web site here.
Former prosecutors pleased
The people who prosecuted Kevin Coe in his criminal cases say they're happy with the jury's decision in his civil commitment trial.
"I think they did the right thing," said former Spokane County Prosecutor Don Brockett.
He complimented the jurors for "sorting through all the evidence and making the determination they did," and state attorneys for "doing a great job of presenting the case to the jury."
And he had special praise for "Shelly Monahan, Julie Harmia and the other victims who had the courage to come back into court and testify."
Steve Matthews, a former deputy prosecutor who replaced Brockett for Coe's second criminal trial - because Brockett had been the target of a murder-for-hire plot by Coe's mother, Ruth - said he was "not terribly surprised, but very pleased" by the verdict.
Told that jurors questioned Coe's credibility, just as juries did after the criminal trials, Matthews said: "He hurts himself. He's never done anything to accept any responsiblity, or mitigate his conduct.
"I think that makes him scary."
Roommate: Coe commitment unfair
Kevin Coe got a raw deal, says one of his roommates at McNeil Island.
The trial should have been moved out of Spokane, and the judge shouldn't have allowed testimony about old crimes Coe was never charged with, Richard Scott told The Spokesman-Review's Richard Roesler.
"If I was on the jury, I would have supported his release on the grounds that he did his 25 years," said Scott, a convicted child rapist who's also confined to the state's Special Committment Center for sex offenders.
"You do your time and you get out. That's how it should work, rather than doing your time and then doing another 20 years here.
"This is not a treatment center," he added. "This is just another prison."
Scott said jurors should not have heard about cases where Coe wasn't convicted. "Bringing in alleged victims from 25 years ago, it's just not proper," he said.
As for trying the case in Spokane County, he said, "The appeals court is going to say, 'Yes, there was more than enough evidence of bias in that community.' "
But even if Coe wins his appeal, Scott said, "It takes a year or two to reverse it, then it maybe goes to the state Supreme Court, and then guess what? It just goes back to trial again.
"You don't win your release, you just win a new trial."
Detective: Commitment too good for Coe
It's good that Kevin Coe is being put away again, but he's getting better than he deserves, says the detective who tracked him 27 years ago.
"They're putting him in a nice little rest home for the rest of his life," Roy Allen said of Coe's commitment to a state mental health facility on McNeil Island. "People his age pay good money for living in luxury like that.
"It's a lot better than what he deserves, I think. His victims have got to live with their scars for the rest of their lives."
Allen, who was the lead detective in the "South Hill rapist" case, continued: "He brutally beat these women. He rammed his hand so far down their throats that they couldn't talk for a couple of days.
"That came to a halt, thank God, before he killed somebody."
Allen says he'd rather see Coe in prison - where he likely would be, had his original sentence of life plus 75 years on four rape convictions been upheld.
Instead, three of those convictions were reversed on appeal because victims had been hypnotized by police. Coe served his full 25-year sentence on the remaining conviction.
Juror: Coe credibility "zero"
The state's case against Kevin Coe was convincing, and Coe's own credibility was "zero," says the head juror in his civil commitment trial.
Defense attorneys "put forth a gallant effort, but they didn't have a whole lot to work with," said presiding juror Mattias Herzog.
"We feel a little uncomfortable, but we feel we did the right thing," added another juror, Joel Wilborn, citing the importance of the high-profile case and the "overwhelming" amount of evvidence.
Sitting through the 11-day trial - with its coarse language and description of brutal crimes - was draining, Herzog said.
"I haven't slept well for three weeks," he said, adding: "You don't like to think that people can do that to each other. Everybody's got a sister, a wife ... it's horrible."
Testimony by rape victims was sobering, said Wilborn.
"We weren't just reading about something," he said. "We were looking into the eyes of someone who had been attacked by this person."
Coe: 'Keys to the door'
Kevin Coe's ultimate fate depends on whether he's willing to undergo treatment at the state's Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, according to one of the state attorneys who prevailed in Coe's civil commitment trial.
"He holds the keys to the door," said Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers immediately after the jury's verdict.
There will be an annual review of Coe's condition, and he could influence the outcome by seeking treatment as a sexually violent predator, Bowers said.
"He needs to show a change of heart," he added.
The only other thing that could trigger an early release from the commitment center is if Coe, 61, showed a "change in condition," such as a stroke, Bowers added.
The state is very happy with the eight-woman, four-man jury's verdict, he said.
Coe will be transported back to McNeil Island from the Spokane County Jail in a couple of days, Bowers said.
Coe will appeal
Kevin Coe will appeal the jury's verdict that he is a sexually violent predator, his attorney says.
"We'll just file a notice of appeal and go from there," Tim Trageser said.
Coe himself had no comment as he was led back to jail by armed deputies. He'll be transported back to the Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island in the next day or two.
"For most people, that means a lifetime sentence," Trageser said.
And the appeals process could drag on for too long to be much help to Coe, who turns 62 in February, he said.
Trageser declined to discuss the issues he would raise on appeal. "That would be criticizing the court's pretrial decisions, and I don't want to do that," he said.
Once an appeal is filed, Trageser said, "We will outline the problems we saw with this case."
COE COMMITTED
Kevin Coe could be locked up for the rest of his life.
A Spokane County Superior Court jury today determined that Coe is a “sexually violent predator” who should be committed indefinitely to a mental institution.
Coe showed no emotion as Judge Kathleen O'Connor read the jury's verdict at 1:46 p.m.
Coe could eventually be released from the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island if his condition improves. However, he has refused any psychological treatment so far, insisting that he’s innocent.
The jury’s verdict followed an 11-day trial and about six hours of deliberation.
In order to commit Coe, jurors had to agree unanimously that he has a mental disorder that makes him likely to reoffend if released.
Coe’s attorneys argued that he may have raped, but not because of any psychological problems. And he’s unlikely to reoffend at age 61, they said.
The suspected “South Hill rapist” originally was convicted of four rapes in 1981. But appeals whittled that to a single conviction, for which he served 25 years in prison.
Waiting for Coe
Everyone is assembled in court to hear the verdict, with the exception of Kevin Coe himself. We're waiting for him to arrive from the jail.
We have a verdict
We have just been notified that the jury has reached a verdict. It's scheduled to be read in court at 1:30 p.m.
If Coe goes free
If the jury decides Kevin Coe should not be committed as a sexually violent predator, he says he’d leave Spokane as soon as possible.
He wouldn’t just walk out the courtroom door; Coe would be returned to the Spokane County Jail and booked out.
His attorneys have been working to line up a temporary place for him to stay in Spokane while he registers with the sheriff's office as a convicted sex offender. The House of Charity and New Washington Apartments have been mentioned as possibilities.
As soon as he’s registered, they say, he plans to move to Nevada, where he previously lived in Las Vegas and Reno. Coe’s sister, Kathy, says she hopes he can find a group home setting, but if not, she would help set him up in an apartment with a caretaker.
In any event, she says, “Spokane is the last place on Earth he wants to be.”
If Coe is committed
If the jury decides that Kevin Coe should be committed to a mental facility, he’ll return to his home of the past two years.
Coe would continue to be housed at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island in Puget Sound, where he’s been since the state started civil commitment proceedings following his discharge from prison in September 2006.
He would be re-evaluated annually to see if his mental condition has improved to the point where he can be released to the community, or to a less restrictive treatment facility. In addition to the annual reviews, he could request a re-evaluation at any time.
The release decision could be made through an agreement by state and defense attorneys, or a new trial could be held before a judge or jury.
Since the state law took effect in 1990, only two offenders have been released from commitment, including a case out of Spokane County: that of Herbert “Butch” Paschke, who in 1999 became the first county resident to be declared a sexually violent predator.
Coe’s attorneys also could appeal the jury decision.
Sleeping on it
The jury in Kevin Coe's civil commitment trial has gone home for the night.
Jurors will resume deliberations tomorrow morning at 9. They will meet on Friday if necessary, although the trial ran Mondays through Thursdays.
The jury has it
Kevin Coe's civil commitment trial is over - except for the verdict.
Jurors received the case just before 2:30 p.m., after Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers finished the state's final closing argument.
Their first official order of business is organizational, including the election of a "presiding juror" - the new, non-sexist term for jury foreman.
But before that, they decided to take a short break outside in the sunshine.
Jurors are not expected to deliberate into the evening unless they are close to a verdict, which is unlikely in a case this complex.
Deliberations would resume tomorrow morning.
State: Coe can't change spots
The real question isn't whether Kevin Coe has shown any signs of a mental disorder behind bars, a state attorney says.
It's whether he has shown any signs that he's changed since being confined 27 years ago, Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers told jurors.
Bowers said that parents tell their children, "Can a leopard change his spots? Can a tiger change his stripes?
"It illustrates what we know as adults - that people don't change fundamental things about themselves very often, if at all," he said.
"The question is whether Mr. Coe has taken any steps to change his stripes, or change his spots. The evidence is that he hasn't."
Bowers pointed to Coe's refusal to seek treatment since his imprisonment in 1981, which he said deprives the jury of information about his current mental state.
"You should not reward him for his refusals," Bowers said.
He added that Coe's continuing denials that he's ever committed a sex crime are "patently unreasonable given all the evidence presented in this case."
State: Coe out of control
The sheer number of crimes connected to Kevin Coe shows he's abnormally attracted to rape, argues a state attorney.
"If I ate chocolate cake every night for year, it would be reasonable for you to infer that I like chocolate cake," Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers told jurors during the state's final closing argument.
"Mr. Coe has committed 20 rapes," he said. "I think it's reasonable for you to infer he gets something out of that."
And he showed increasingly risky behavior, Bowers said, with some of the final incidents attributed to him occurring in public places in broad daylight.
"That showed his difficulty controlling his urges," Bowers said.
He also reminded jurors that some victims said their attacker told them, "You don't know how much I need this."
As for a defense suggestion that the state should have called more rape victims as witnesses, instead of relying on analyses of police reports, Bowers pointed out that 15 victims testified - eight of whom could positively identify Coe.
"They had harrowing stories," he said. "How many more did you need to hear from? Isn't 15 enough?"
« Newer posts | Older posts »
Kevin Coe, labeled the "South Hill rapist" in a community frightened by dozens of attacks on women in the Spokane area in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has been in prison since 1981. He was slated for release in September 2006 when the Washington state attorney general's office moved to have Coe spend the rest of his life in prison through the civil commitment program. In this trial, the state seeks to convince jurors that Coe represents too much of a threat to ever be released.
Karen Dorn Steele has been a Spokesman-Review reporter since 1982,
covering the courts, environment, enterprise and investigative beat. She
lived in Spokane in 1980 when a series of unsolved rapes terrorized the
city. 
Rick Bonino has worked at The Spokesman-Review in various positions
since 1977. He covered both of Kevin Coe's previous trials, in 1981 and
1985, and also Ruth Coe's trial in 1982. 
Video
Slideshows
Archived stories
Audio