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Competency questioned for sex offender in rape at Seattle park

SEATTLE — A man who was supposed to enter a plea Monday on charges he sexually assaulted two women at Myrtle Edwards Park will instead undergo a competency evaluation.

His attorney questioned whether Coty Kelly, a convicted sex offender, is competent to face the charges.  A judge agreed and ordered a competency evaluation in jail.

Kelly was arrested Dec. 22 at the Olympic Sculpture Park parking garage.  Witnesses said they heard screaming in nearby Myrtle Edwards Park.  Police said Kelly raped one woman and sexually assaulted another.

According to court documents, Kelly made some outrageous statements saying he wanted to “release women from the shackles of Jesus” and that he pulled down a woman's pants and touched her "to remove the racism from inside her and pull it out."

In court Monday, his attorney questioned Kelly's competency based on conversations with his mother and information she gave him.

KIRO 7 talked to Kelly's mother by phone in 2011 after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two women in Olympia.

“He was all drugged up,” said Kelly’s mother, Gabrielle Fischer.

Kelly was sentenced 14 months in prison, but received credit for time served and was set free four days later.

Fischer said Kelly is a Navy veteran who had psychotic episodes after he was traumatized during deployment.  Fischer said he was hospitalized and prescribed drugs.

“And he said, ‘Mom, I just want to come home,’” said Fischer.  “Because they kept him sleeping all the time.”

Kelly will be evaluated in jail and face a judge again on January 27.