SPOKANE — The Washington Supreme Court has upheld the sexually violent predator civil commitment of Kevin Coe, who was arrested in 1981 following dozens of rapes in Spokane attributed to the South Hill rapist.
Coe served 25 years in prison for a single conviction, and since 2006 has remained incarcerated at the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.
The Supreme Court’s Thursday decision means Coe has exhausted all legal avenues at the state level to win his freedom.
Coe and his attorneys appealed his commitment on the argument that a lower court judge erred when she allowed assistant attorneys general to introduce evidence from 36 sexual assaults that did not result in criminal charges against Coe. They also said he had ineffective counsel and deserved a new trial.
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