Coe’s lawyer to seek a delay

The attorney appointed to represent the South Hill rapist said Friday that he plans to file a motion next week to postpone the probable cause hearing necessary for the state’s effort to civilly commit Kevin Coe as a sexually violent predator.

Defense attorney Tim Trageser told The Spokesman-Review he needs more time to review the 67,000 pages of documents filed in the case, and he will ask Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor to postpone the Wednesday morning hearing for at least 30 days.

“That’s up to the judge to decide. I have a pretty good grasp up to this point, but I’m certainly not going to move forward on a probable cause hearing without looking at all of the discovery,” Trageser said.

Trageser has been involved in six sexually violent predator cases. He said he accepted a request by the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office to represent Coe.

Trageser has spoken to Coe, but the attorney would not discuss specifics of the case or their strategy.

“It obviously is an interesting case,” Trageser said. “Obviously, I’m familiar with Mr. Coe’s situation. I think these (sexually violent predator cases) are quite a challenge. I certainly look forward to helping Mr. Coe out.”

Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers likewise said he could not specifically talk about the Coe case, but he acknowledged that the probable cause hearings are almost always postponed in these types of cases.

Spokane County Jail officials said Friday that Coe was not taking media requests for interviews.

Sheriff’s deputies transported Coe to Spokane on Thursday from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, where Coe has lived for the past 25 years after his conviction in a criminal case that became international news and was the basis of a true crime best-seller.

Between 1978 and 1981 Spokane police attributed at least 43 sexual attacks to the South Hill rapist, although more were reported. Investigators eventually arrested Coe in 1981, and he was charged with six rapes. A jury convicted him of four.

Those convictions were overturned on appeal because Spokane police detectives used hypnosis during interviews with witnesses. Former Spokane County Prosecutor Donald Brockett re-filed the charges, and a second jury convicted Coe of three rapes in 1985.

The state Supreme Court then overturned two of those convictions in 1988, leaving Coe with the single conviction for first-degree rape. But the state avoided Coe’s Sept. 8 release by filing the paperwork this week for a civil commitment.

The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing was supposed to allow O’Connor to decide whether the state has a case to proceed to a civil commitment trial.

If approved, prosecutors would be required to convince a jury that Coe has a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes him more likely than not to re-offend if he were to be released into the community, Bowers said.

If a jury agrees, Coe would remain indefinitely in a mental health facility on McNeil Island in Pierce County until his underlying mental problems improve to the point where he could safely be released back into the community, according to court records.

Without specifically talking about the Coe case, Bowers said judges in previous civil commitment trials have allowed the state to introduce evidence from other sexual assault allegations that did not result in convictions.

According to court records, state prosecutors are basing their entire case on the opinion of Dr. Amy Phenix, a forensic psychologist who specializes in sexual deviancy.

Phenix took nine months to review 67,000 pages of documents before diagnosing Coe as suffering from four mental abnormalities, which cause him to have anti-social personality disorders. Those conditions tend to make Coe aroused by forced sexual contact, urine and feces, and by exposing himself to others, court records stated.

But Trageser said Phenix was allowed to base her opinion on police reports that would otherwise be inadmissible in a criminal trial.

“That’s very problematic when an expert is allowed to testify and can give an expert opinion whether someone is a sexually violent predator. Yet, the jury is supposed to disregard” the police reports that did not result in convictions, Trageser said.

O’Connor “will have to make some tough decisions about where we draw the line. And certainly the court is cognizant of the fact that Mr. Coe has the right to a fair trial,” he said.

If O’Connor ultimately decides the state has presented evidence to proceed with the civil commitment, the law says that Coe is entitled to a jury trial within 45 days.

Asked if he would ask to postpone that trial, Trageser said: “I have no comment on that.”