State says Coe refuses to take ordered test

The Washington attorney general’s office will ask a Spokane County judge to find Kevin Coe and his attorney in contempt of court.

Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor earlier this year ordered three tests for Coe, the convicted South Hill rapist, after determining the state could go forward with its case to attempt to have him civilly committed and potentially locked up for life.

Two motions were recently filed in Spokane County Superior Court alleging that Coe failed to complete one test and his attorney intervened on another. The state is alleging that Coe’s attorney, Tim Trageser, didn’t allow his client to answer a number of questions asked by a psychologist during an evaluation, said Malcolm Ross, an assistant attorney general, adding that during a recent evaluation by psychologist Amy Phenix, Coe’s attorney was allowed to sit in.

Also, Coe has refused to take a court-ordered test that measures his arousal levels, called a penile plethysmograph test, Ross said. The state is asking O’Connor to hold Coe in the Spokane County Jail until he agrees to the test.

A hearing on the contempt of court motions is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 23. Coe will participate via phone.

Several attempts to reach Trageser by phone Tuesday were unsuccessful.

An additional hearing on motions to keep out some of the state’s evidence in the civil commitment trial was rescheduled from Oct. 22 to Dec. 5, Ross said.

Coe spent 25 years in prison for rape. He was nine days away from his release when state Attorney General Rob McKenna announced last summer the state would try to civilly commit Coe as a sexually violent predator.

If a jury agrees with the state, Coe must remain at a facility on Western Washington’s McNeil Island until his underlying condition changes enough to allow his safe release, according to previous news accounts.