Other LanguagesSex offender stashed rape kit near Gonzaga University, wrote about plans to rape and dismember adult store clerk
SPOKANE — A Spokane County jury has decided that repeat sex offender Shawn Botner is a dangerous predator and must be confined in the State’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island.
In the interest of public safety, prosecutors from Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit have been fighting to prevent Botner’s release into the community since 2006, when he was linked to an apparent rape kit and plans to rape and dismember a woman near Gonzaga University. The prosecutors in this case were Assistant Attorneys General Mary Robnett and Erin Jany.
Botner, 41, has been convicted of two sexually violent offenses (indecent liberties against a child under age 14 in 1988, and attempted first degree rape in 1992). Botner was released to the community on April 2, 2001, but was incarcerated several times over the next five years for probation violations and other crimes. On Aug. 11, 2006, Botner was incarcerated for 180 days for more probation violations.
Prior to his release from confinement, the state filed a petition seeking his involuntary commitment to the state’s Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island. Since then, he has been detained at the Special Commitment Center awaiting trial.
The trial began on Nov. 3 and ended today, with the jury’s decision that Botner is a Sexually Violent Predator. A jury previously committed Botner as a Sexually Violent Predator in August 2009, but Botner appealed and won a new trial due to an issue with the jury instructions.
“The Attorney General’s Office works hard to protect our communities from sexually violent predators,” said Attorney General Bob Ferguson. “I’m especially proud of the entire prosecution team for their dedication to this case over the past seven years.”
Under Washington’s civil commitment law, prosecutors had to demonstrate Botner suffers from specific mental abnormalities and/or personality disorders that cause him to have serious difficulty in controlling his dangerous behavior and make him likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence unless confined to a secure facility.
Because Botner had been released to the community after his last confinement for a sex offense, prosecutors also had to prove he committed a “recent overt act,” meaning in this case any act that creates a reasonable apprehension of harm of a sexually violent nature in the mind of an objective person who knows of the history and mental condition of the person.
In July 2006, Spokane police, responding to a call from Gonzaga University campus security, found a duffle bag stashed along the Centennial Trail on campus. The bag contained women’s clothing, pornography, wigs, sex toys, and an envelope addressed by Botner. The bag also contained a notebook describing a planned kidnap, rape, murder, and dismemberment of a female clerk of an adult store.
Information located at the site along the Centennial Trial linked Botner to the note and he became a person of interest in that investigation.
When Botner was found by police weeks later, he was wearing a backpack that contained another apparent rape kit with similar item, along with rope, rubber gloves and condoms.
In 1990, Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a law permitting the involuntary civil commitment of sex offenders after they have served their criminal sentence. The Attorney General’s SVP Unit was established shortly thereafter.
The AGO SVP unit is responsible for prosecuting sex predator cases for 38 of Washington’s 39 counties (King County being the exception). In Fiscal Year 2014, the unit tried 14 cases, won 9 civil commitments and secured one recommitment. Three trials ended in hung juries and one trial involved an offender who was found by the jury to not meet the criteria to be committed as a sexually violent predator.
As of October 2014, 294 sexually violent predators are in the state’s Special Commitment Program.
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The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions. Attorney General Bob Ferguson is working hard to protect consumers and seniors against fraud, keep our communities safe, protect our environment and stand up for our veterans. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.
Contacts:
Alison Dempsey-Hall, Acting Communications Director