Man fights "predator" label

King County prosecutors argued in court Tuesday that a former Bothell man should be civilly committed as a sexually violent predator because of a penchant for assaulting, stalking and propositioning women

Toney Bates, 38, a former star athlete who had a brief stint with the Canadian Football League, has been involved in more than two dozen incidents of sexual misconduct, including 21 while he was attending the University of Iowa on a football scholarship in 1993, according to charging documents filed in King County Superior Court.

"Why would a man, who can get hundreds of consenting sexual partners, force himself on women unless he had a sexually deviant arousal system," King County Deputy Prosecutor Don Porter asked jurors in his opening statement Tuesday.

Porter said Bates has a history of sexual offenses and a diagnosed mental abnormality or personality disorder that contributes to his risk of reoffending. He is seeking to have Bates sentenced indefinitely to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island as a sexually violent predator.

But defense attorneys said Bates does not fit the state's definition of a sexually violent predator because he does not have a legally recognized mental or personality disorder.

After leaving the University of Iowa, Bates moved to Calgary in 1995 and played briefly as a defensive end for the Calgary Stampeders before he was arrested again for allegedly sexual assaulting a woman at a gym.

Bates fled to California, prosecutors said, where he was accused of sexual battery for assaulting his former girlfriend's sister.

In 1996, Bates moved to Seattle, where he had a cousin who played for the Seahawks, Porter said.

On July 22, 1996, Bates was drinking heavily, court documents say, because he was depressed about his washed-up career. He left his girlfriend's Bothell condo and drove around until he saw a 74-year-old woman working in her garden, Porter said.

According to Porter, Bates exposed himself and propositioned the woman. Later that same day, he attacked a 59-year-old woman who had been bird-watching at Juanita Park, Porter said. Bates forced her to the ground and was pulling off her shorts when a passer-by intervened, the deputy prosecutor said.

Bates returned once more that same day and followed a 27-year-old jogger, stalking her with his car until she hid in the woods, Porter said.

Bates pleaded guilty to attempted indecent liberties and was sentenced to prison time.

In 1999 and in 2001, he was arrested on probation violations for allegedly slipping his hand under the shirt of a shopper at the Crossroads Mall in Bellevue, peeking under a dressing-room stall at a Kmart and propositioning a woman at the airport immediately after dropping off a girlfriend.

Four years ago, Bates was charged with rape for allegedly assaulting his wife's sister while she was sleeping in their living room.

He evaded prosecution until 2006, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and has remained in custody since then.

Defense attorney Ken Chang said Bates has already been punished and served time for "all the bad things, stupid things, horrible things he has done."

He argued that Bates had not been diagnosed with one of the mental defects or personality disorders that state law recognizes as criteria for committal.

In 1990, Washington became the first state in the nation to use mental-health-commitment laws to send sex offenders to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island after they have finished their prison terms.

King County prosecutors said they typically seek civil commitment for eight to 10 sex offenders a year. Only once has a King County jury refused to commit a person. That man, Curtis Thompson, has since been charged with rape and murder.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com