MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (Metro) -- A civil commitment trial is underway that could keep a Mount Vernon man with multiple rape convictions in custody indefinitely.
Goskagit.com reports the trial, conducted by the state Attorney General's office, will determine whether 48-year-old Richard Rude meets the state's definition of a "sexually violent predator," who must be confined even after his criminal sentence has been served.
Rude was set to be released from prison after doing time on his most recent rape sentence in August 2010.
However, court records indicate the state filed probable cause to keep him in custody just days before the end of his commitment.
He has been confined to the McNeil Island Corrections Center, designated for dangerous sex offenders.
Rude was convicted of three separate sex crimes in the '80s and '90s.
He has also been accused of sexually assaulting fellow residents at Western State Hospital in Steilacoom, where he underwent sexual psychopath treatment, and in prison.
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