McNeil Island, Wash. – Terrance Laramie, the sex offender a jury decided Wednesday was no longer a violent predator is out of jail and released to the community around 3:00 p.m. Thursday.
Laramie’s case brought up the question of how a once violent sexual predator civilly committed could end up back on the streets.
In 2011, Laramie was civilly committed to McNeil Island Corrections Center. McNeil Island is where the state sends violent sexual predators after they have served their criminal sentences but are deemed too dangerous to be in the community.
Offenders at McNeil Island get evaluated every year by a psychologist. If the psychologist finds the offender no longer meets the criteria to be on a mental health commitment they have to notify the court. The state can then hire another expert to evaluate the offender. If the expert disagrees, the case would go to trial. That is what happened in the case of Terrance Laramie.
Laramie was evaluated at McNeil Island and the expert believed that he was no longer a sexually violent predator. The state then hired another expert who disagreed and determined he was still violent, so the case went to trial. Ultimately, a Spokane Jury decided he was no longer a violent predator and he was released.
This brings up the question of what could happen to other offenders at McNeil Island, particularly Kevin Coe the South Hill rapist. Coe is evaluated every year and so far, every year he is still determined to be a sexually violent predator. Coe can challenge this finding, but has yet to do so. Coe will be evaluated again in October.
The offenders at McNeil Island also have the right to petition the court to be released, but have to meet a long list of criteria before the case would go to trial like in Laramie’s case.
