Expert: Coe likely to resume assaults

SPOKANE — Rapist Kevin Coe has a "striking lack of empathy" and is highly likely to reoffend within six years if he's set free, according to the state expert who evaluated him for his civil-commitment trial.

"He's had an extraordinary number of aggressive acts toward women," psychologist Amy Phenix said in her Spokane Superior Court testimony Wednesday.

Coe offended over a 15-year period, and at no time was he able to control his behavior, repeatedly acting out a "deviant script" as he forced himself on women or exposed himself in public, Phenix added. But in later cross-examination, Phenix said that Coe had committed no sex offenses during his 25 years at the Washington State Penitentiary.

From 1978, when Coe committed one sexual assault, his behavior escalated until he was committing sexual assaults nearly once a month in 1980, Phenix said. He was arrested in March 1981, when he was 34.

"It's my belief that the rapes would not have stopped if he hadn't been apprehended," she said.

When she interviewed Coe after a court order requiring him to participate, she said, he denied raping or groping nearly three dozen women, including Julie Harmia, whose 1980 rape sent Coe to prison for 25 years.

"Did you ask him about the Harmia rape?" asked Assistant Attorney General Todd Bowers.

"He said he didn't commit it — it was a case of mistaken identity," Phenix replied. She was not allowed to tell the jury that the state has Coe's DNA on a rape slide from the case.

Phenix said she's reviewed 74,000 pages of records and spent 500 hours on Coe's case.

In a criminal trial, it generally wouldn't be allowed for experts to rely on a large number of unadjudicated cases, but the rules of a civil-commitment trial are different, Phenix noted.

Under questioning, Phenix laid out incidents involving 33 women in chronological order.

The first was on March 22, 1977, when Coe allegedly peeked over a bathroom stall in a Spokane restaurant and made a vulgar remark to a 19-year-old. The car in which he fled was traced to his father. The woman identified Coe in a photographic lineup.

Personality tests Phenix administered showed Coe is immature, aggressive, moody, has major issues with impulse control and exhibits a "striking lack of empathy," she added.

He also demonstrated "sadistic behavior" in the alleged rape of at least one woman, Shelly Monahan, Phenix said. Monahan has spoken publicly about her rape on several occasions.

Coe's lawyers, who have denied Coe has a mental abnormality or is at high risk to reoffend, cross-examined Phenix.

Attorney Tim Trageser asked the psychologist about Coe's age, 61, and whether it's a factor in his likelihood to reoffend.

The risk for offenders such as Coe declines with age, but ... the data are weak, Phenix said.

Since Coe has severe sexual deviancy and an extreme history of sexual assaults and acting out over many years, "it's inappropriate to apply that data to Mr. Coe," Phenix replied.

If Coe were to be released, he'd have no community supervision, no work history and likely would be living alone, Phenix said. He also has refused sexual-deviancy treatment in prison and at the state's Special Commitment Center for sex offenders, she added.