Rapist Says He Doesn’T Need To Be Locked Up Jury Hears Paschke Explain Crimes, Apologize, Downplay Risk To Re-Offend

A man with a history of rape dating back more than 30 years told a Spokane County jury that he’s no longer a violent predator who needs to be locked away.

Herman “Butch” Paschke was the final witness in his two-week trial. He faces commitment if jurors decide he is a violent offender too dangerous to be set free.

Paschke, 52, spent more than two hours Wednesday explaining why he raped women and why he thought he’s no longer a risk to reoffend.

The softspoken Paschke apologized to his rape victims and “to the state, for having to bring those victims back and relive what happened.”

State prosecutors allege Paschke suffers from an anti-social personality disorder that he can’t control unless confined to a state facility.

If jurors agree, he will be committed indefinitely for treatment at the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center. More than 50 sex offenders have been sent to that center under the Washington Community Protection Act of 1990.

If the jury thinks he isn’t a violent predator, Paschke will go free, having completed his most recent criminal sentence back in 1994.

His civil commitment trial took five years to start after Paschke and his attorneys raised various appeals of the state’s petition to declare him a violent predator.

He has been in custody throughout that time, awaiting trial.

In 1962 when he was 15, Paschke was convicted of raping his grandmother, who was 77. He spent several months at Eastern State Hospital for that crime, then was placed on probation under the direction of Spokane County Juvenile Court.

In 1971, when he was 24, Paschke was convicted of raping a 12-year-old Spokane girl. He spent six years in prison for that crime.

After being released, Paschke was convicted in 1979 of raping a 33-year-old Spokane woman. He spent eight years in prison, then was released on parole to King County.

In 1989, he was sent back to the state penitentiary at Walla Walla for making dozens of obscene and threatening phone calls to women.

Questioned by defense attorney John Rodgers, Paschke said he lost control of deviant sexual impulses because he was engulfed by feelings of rejection at different points of his life.

“I’d be rejected by someone,” he said, “or something would happen to remind me of my past history of problems.”

Using terms acquired from counseling and therapy, Paschke said he fell into “cycles” of anger and resentment but had no tools to stop himself from hurting others.

“I would withdraw and become defensive. Then I’d go out stalking, or looking for potential people (victims),” he said.

Those cycles would run for days sometimes, or over a month or more, he said.

He also used to drink excessively and take drugs. That made it easier to rape, he said, “because I didn’t care what happened.”

In 1979 and 1980, Paschke attended several months of group sex therapy at Eastern State Hospital at Medical Lake. He learned then that he could find ways to identify his “stop signs” - indicators that he was capable of committing another sex crime, he said.

“Over time, I learned to find ways to control my acting out those impulses,” Paschke said.

“What did you discover?” Rodgers asked him.

“I found that I need to think of others’ feelings. To have concern for my past victims. And to take myself out of situations that had me keying in on those deviant thoughts.” Senior Assistant Attorney General Greg Canova, on cross-examination, bore down on Paschke’s behavior in the past 12 years.

Canova referred to an allegation made by Paschke’s current wife, whom he married in 1983, that he’d forced her in 1987 to have sex against her will.

“Had you forgotten what you learned at Eastern State Hospital when that happened?” Canova asked.

“I didn’t do that,” Paschke replied.

Earlier Wednesday, Paschke’s wife, Karen, testified and said he had never forced her to have sex. Her statement contradicted a psychologist who testified Tuesday she told him about the incident last year.

Canova then asked Paschke if he also forgot what he’d learned when he made the obscene phone calls in 1989 to several women in the Everett area.

“That probably was a relapse,” Paschke said.

Jurors are expected to start deliberating after closing arguments this morning.

In this trial, they must reach a unanimous verdict. In case of a hung jury, prosecutors have the option of placing Paschke on trial a second time.