Coe civil commitment trial pushed back to September

The decision Friday to delay his civil commitment trial will ensure that South Hill rapist Kevin Coe will have served more than two years in custody past his release date, even if a jury decides next September he is not a sexually violent predator.

Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor agreed with a request by defense attorney Tim Trageser to delay until Sept. 15 the trial at which the state will seek to civilly commit Coe as a sexually violent predator. The trial had been scheduled to begin March 3.

Assistant Attorneys General Todd Bowers and Malcolm Ross also won more time to respond to Trageser’s pending motion to exclude dozens of witnesses the state believes were victims of sexual assaults for which Coe was never charged.

Friday also was the deadline for those same victims to come forward to argue against the release of their medical records from 25 to 30 years ago from Deaconess Medical Center. None of the witnesses testified, although one witness did briefly attend the hearing.

The latest rulings came in the legal juggernaut that has generated thousands of pages of documents, more than 100 potential witnesses and a case so sensational that it became the basis of a best-selling crime novel and a made-for-television movie.

“Realistically, my office may have to depose 200 individuals before trial,” Trageser said.

The state has identified 44 witnesses who claim they were victims of a sexual assault at or about the time Spokane police linked Coe to 43 rapes from 1978 to 1981. He was later convicted on four of those cases.

Appellate judges threw out three of the convictions because of police interview techniques, leaving Coe with a single rape conviction. He served 25 years on that conviction, until last year when his Sept. 8 release was put on hold while the state began the process for civil commitment.

The case also was delayed because Trageser appealed a ruling by O’Connor barring him from interfering or providing advice to Coe during an interview by forensic psychologist Dr. Amy Phenix. That appeal is expected to be heard in January by the Washington Supreme Court.

Phenix previously testified in court that she believes Coe was responsible for 53 sexual attacks. Many of those women will be asked to testify.

Trageser said many of those alleged victims could not identify their attacker decades ago but are now saying Coe was their attacker.

“Over 10 of the alleged victims identified the same perpetrator who was not Mr. Coe,” Trageser said.

Bowers and Ross have not yet responded to Trageser’s request to exclude witnesses. That oral hearing set for Feb. 13 and 14 will be key because it will determine the witnesses, old cases and evidence that O’Connor will allow the attorneys to present at trial.

O’Connor said she wanted to set the trial for mid-September to keep the trial, which could last two months, from bumping into jurors’ holiday schedules.

“I believe both counsels have been diligent,” she said, “but they simply have mountains of information to deal with.”

The judge also made it clear she wants to stick to the Sept. 15 trial date “absent some unforeseen situation.”