(The Center Square) – One of Spokane's most notorious criminals could soon be released from the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.

An Aug. 28 email from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services sent to state lawmakers said Kevin Coe, 78, is scheduled for an unconditional release hearing on Oct. 2

Coe, referred to in media reports as the “South Hill Rapist,” was accused of a string of violent rapes that terrorized Spokane in the 1970s and 1980s.

He was initially convicted of four rapes, but in 1984, the state Supreme Court overturned Coe’s rape convictions partly because three of the four 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 thr

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