Rapist's Confession In Therapy Not Private -- Admitting To 50 More Attacks Is OK To Use In Sentencing, Says Judge

A judge has ruled that a sex offender's admission during state-supervised therapy that he committed about 50 uncharged rapes was not confidential and was properly used in giving him an exceptional sentence.

King County Superior Court Judge Leroy McCullough yesterday refused Edward Lee King's request for a new, lighter sentence for the four rapes of which he was convicted in 1981.

Although he is not mentioned by name, King was the subject of "Predator," a best-selling book by Jack Olsen. King committed a rape for which another Seattle man, Steve Titus, was initially convicted. Titus' conviction was later overturned, after a Seattle Times investigation. The series of stories resulted in a Pulitzer Prize for reporter Paul Henderson.

In 1989 the state Court of Appeals sent back to King County Superior Court the issue of King's exceptional "minimum" sentence of more than 30 years in prison.

King contended he was given the impression that his comments, made as part of therapy with other sex offenders, were confidential and a necessary part of participating in the treatment program then being operated at Western State Hospital.

He said he was never told that statements made in the treatment setting could be used against him.

After hearing a full day of testimony, McCullough ruled that while King may have thought his comments were privileged they were not. McCullough said King was a victim of "a misunderstanding."

King's attorneys, Neil Fox and Miriam Schwartz, argued that sex offenders who choose to participate in the treatment program were all under the impression their admissions were not only required but protected by counselors.

Assistant Attorney General Tom Young said King was told in writing during screening for the treatment program that information about his past would be reported to the court.

Maureen Saylor, coordinator of the sex-offender program at Western State, said King's claims were never individually investigated but appeared to be confirmed by polygraph testing. She said information made in group sessions was confidential - except from the court.

In October 1981, King County Superior Court Judge Gerard Shellan sentenced King to 20 years in prison, but suspended the prison term on the condition that he successfully complete the sexual-psychopath treatment program at the Steilacoom hospital.

Shellan said the prison sentence would be imposed if King either was deemed ineligible for the program or failed to complete it. He called King's offenses "violent crimes against particularly vulnerable victims" and said he was "a definite and clear" menace to the public.

In early 1986, Western State officials declared King, 39, of Kent, no longer treatable, calling him, "not safe to be at large." King then received a sentence of almost 31 years.

One of the rapes to which King confessed was an Oct. 12, 1980, attack on a 17-year-old girl south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Titus, who has since died, was convicted by a jury in March 1981, partly because he resembled King.

King also pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree rape in Snohomish County, where he became known as the "open-house rapist" because his victims were real-estate saleswomen.

The state's sex-offender program has since been transferred to the Department of Corrections to provide a more restrictive setting in which to treat criminals.