Missouri Woman Confined as Sexual Predator Ordered Released

In re Cofel, 117 S.W.3d 116 (Mo. Ct. App. 2003)

The only woman ever confined in Missouri under that state's violent sexual predator law, and one of the few in the nation, has been released. The 27-year-old woman, Angela Coffel, was sentenced in 1995 to a five-year term after being convicted of two counts of sodomy for placing the penises of two brothers, ages 11 and 14, in her mouth during a game of "Truth or Dare." Coffel, 18-years­ old and HIV-positive at the time of the crime, has a family history that includes significant physical and emotional abuse, has a below­ normal IQ, and contracted HIV at the age of 17. At the completion of her sentence, she was committed indefinitely to the Missouri Sexual Offender Treatment Center after a judge ruled she was likely to assault someone again.  No one committed under the Missouri sexual predator law (enacted in 1998) to this center has ever been judged safe for release. The center currently houses 75 individuals, roughly half of which have been committed under this law and the other half are awaiting court determinations...

Found in DMHL Volume 23 Issue 1