State Sen. Mark Schoesler says he is outraged that the state might release Kevin Coe, the “South Hill Rapist” who terrorized Spokane before his arrest and conviction in the early 1980s.
“Kevin Coe is one of the most dangerous and infamous criminals in our state’s history,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “He was suspected of raping many women and girls as young as 14 before being arrested in 1981 and ultimately found guilty of first-degree rape. It’s unbelievable that the state would even consider releasing him.
“The Legislature needs to act next session to prevent or at least make it harder for DSHS or other agencies to release people guilty of such heinous crimes. We need to place the public’s safety above the freedom of a serial rapist who is unrepentant to this day,” added Schoesler, who said he would introduce or co-sponsor such legislation.
Last week Schoesler and several other legislators received an email from a Department of Social and Health Services official about Coe’s possible release. Part of the email reads:
The Department of Social and Health Services would like to make you aware that a high-profile resident of the Special Commitment Center (SCC), Kevin Coe, is scheduled for an Unconditional Release hearing on October 2, 2025.
The SCC forensic evaluator as well as the State’s expert concluded to a reasonable degree of psychological certainty that Mr. Coe no longer meets civil commitment criteria as a sexually violent predator. The parties are in agreement that the case should be dismissed, so it is highly likely that it will be. Upon an order for unconditional release, Mr. Coe will be released as soon as within 24 hours and will be going to a licensed adult family home in the 30th Legislative District.
Mr. Coe was a Spokane County resident, as were many of the individuals he victimized. Law enforcement was notified yesterday, and enrollees of the department’s Victim/Witness Notification Program will receive notice of the anticipated release tomorrow. In the past, Mr. Coe received media attention throughout the country and we anticipate that his release may prompt additional attention.
Coe was arrested in March 1981. A jury convicted Coe later that year on four counts of first-degree rape. Coe was sentenced to life plus 75 years in prison. In 1984, the state Supreme Court overturned Coe’s four rape convictions partly because three of the four rape victims were hypnotized before identifying Coe as the rapist. In 1985, a second trial was held, this time in Seattle. The jury in the second trial found Coe guilty of three counts of first-degree rape. In 1988, the state Supreme Court overturned two of the convictions and upheld the third.
In 2006, state Attorney General Rob McKenna filed a petition to have Coe committed as a sexual predator, blocking his scheduled release that year from the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. Two years later a Spokane County jury declared Coe to be a sexually violent predator. This designation gives the state the right to hold Coe indefinitely at the Special Commitment Center, on McNeil Island in Puget Sound.
Schoesler noted that since regaining control of both the House and Senate in 2018, Democrats have passed numerous crime-friendly bills, including the “Blake bill” in 2021 that basically decriminalized many drugs (Senate Bill 5476), an expansion of eligibility for early release from corrections centers (SB 5121, passed in 2021), and similar changes related to partial confinement programs that allow inmates to be released sooner (SB 5219, passed this year).
Schoesler represents the 9th Legislative District, which covers all or part of Adams, Asotin, Garfield, Lincoln, Spokane and Whitman counties.