Coe: Inside the courtroom
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.
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Yes! Yes! Yes! That SOB is being put away again! Thank you jurors!
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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. 
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