OLYMPIA, WA — State Sen. Mark Schoesler has introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at tightening release standards for individuals convicted of serial rape who are housed at Washington’s Special Commitment Center (SCC). The proposal follows the state’s recent release of Kevin Coe, the Spokane man widely known as the “South Hill Rapist.”
The bill was prefiled ahead of the 2026 legislative session, which begins Jan. 12. Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said the measure responds to concerns raised after the Department of Social and Health Services released Coe from the SCC in October.
“Kevin Coe was one of the most dangerous and infamous criminals in our state’s history,” Schoesler said. “It’s still shocking and unbelievable that the state released him this year.”
Coe, who was suspected in dozens of sexual assaults in Spokane in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was first convicted of first-degree rape in 1981. Several of those convictions were later overturned, but a Seattle jury convicted him again in 1985, and one conviction ultimately remained in place.
In 2008, a Spokane County jury designated Coe a sexually violent predator, authorizing the state to hold him indefinitely at the SCC. Officials released him this year after determining he no longer met the legal criteria for continued confinement. Coe briefly lived in adult-family homes in Federal Way and Auburn before he died on Dec. 3.
Schoesler said some victims contacted him after Coe’s release, expressing concern about the state’s decision.
According to Schoesler, Coe refused to participate in treatment while in confinement and did not express remorse—factors that, under his bill, would bar a court from granting a less-restrictive alternative placement. The legislation would apply when the state presents sufficient evidence of treatment refusal or lack of remorse.
The bill has 16 co-sponsors, including leading co-sponsor Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane.
Coe’s legal history spans decades. After his 1981 conviction, the Washington Supreme Court overturned four counts in 1984 due to concerns about hypnotically influenced witness testimony. A second trial the following year resulted in three convictions, two of which were later dismissed on appeal.
In 2006, then–Attorney General Rob McKenna petitioned to have Coe civilly committed as a sexually violent predator ahead of his expected release from the Washington State Penitentiary. The civil commitment ruling kept him confined at the SCC until this year.
Schoesler represents the 9th Legislative District, which includes all or parts of Adams, Asotin, Garfield, Lincoln, Spokane, and Whitman counties. The 2026 legislative session is scheduled to run 60 days.
