Judge in California orders serial rapist's release

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27553652

Judge in California orders serial rapist's release

A man who raped and assaulted at least 40 women has been ordered to live in a remote California community, despite objections from residents there.

Christopher Evans Hubbart, who police believe may have had as many as 100 victims, will rent a small house in a rural area near the city of Palmdale.

A Santa Clara judge heard objections at an all-day hearing on Wednesday but issued his order two days later.

Hubbart, 63, will have to wear a GPS ankle bracelet when released on 7 July.

He admitted raping and assaulting about 40 women between 1971 and 1982, when he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Police believe the number of victims to be closer to 100.

Released on parole in 1990, he was arrested two months later for a new attack and returned to prison until 1996, when he was transferred to a state mental hospital.

Doctors there recently concluded he was fit for release, but few options were available - in California, sex offenders must not live within 2,000 feet (600 metres) of schools and other places where children congregate.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey spent months fighting the decision to release him to live in her county.

"I am extremely disappointed with the court's decision," she said. "Now we are preparing for his arrival.

(continued, justice in America Seth?)

[Warren Dew]

Obviously they need to build a school there.

[FBM]

Yeah, with a branch every 600 sq. ft.

[mistermack]

Doctors there recently concluded he was fit for release,

There's your problem right there.
Those fuckers have no way of knowing. You could study psychiatry or psychology for a hundred years, and you still have no way of knowing if he's safe to release.
They are just bullshitting liars to say anything, other than he's potentially very dangerous.

But people in that field CONSTANTLY overstate their abilities.

[jaydot]

anyone see a lynching in the offing? i know i'd feel like topping him were he imposed on my community.

[Svartalf]

I see a lawsuit against the judge who did that and it possibly reaching the Supreme Court.

[klr]

I see a new Louis Theroux program in the offing ...

[JimC]

The inhabitants could erect a forest of signs along the lines of "This way to the dangerous pervert's house"...

[Warren Dew]

I see a lawsuit against the judge who did that and it possibly reaching the Supreme Court.

I don't. The rules on immunity prevent that. They even prevent a lawsuit against the doctor who considered him not a threat, in most cases.

[mistermack]

I see a lawsuit against the judge who did that and it possibly reaching the Supreme Court.

I don't. The rules on immunity prevent that. They even prevent a lawsuit against the doctor who considered him not a threat, in most cases.

In any case, judges are not entirely free to do whatever they want. They have guidelines and must follow precedents if they don't want their decisions successfully appealed.

If a medical expert say's so-and-so, and it's not contradicted by an opposite opinion, the judge might not have much option, but to take it as fact.

It seems very un-american that the guy admitted to over 40 rapes, but only got 16 years.
That might be the fault of the all-american plea-bargain system.

The guy did his time, and the time for the subsequent offence. They tried to keep him in longer, on mental health grounds, but if the doctor says he's fit, I doubt if the judge can over-rule that without an opinion from another doctor to the contrary.

It's the original sentencing that did the damage. And the loony psychiatrist who thinks he's fit to declare him ''fit''.

[Svartalf]

I see a lawsuit against the judge who did that and it possibly reaching the Supreme Court.

I don't. The rules on immunity prevent that. They even prevent a lawsuit against the doctor who considered him not a threat, in most cases.

Actually, I do see the community appealing the decision as an undue imposition on them, possibly from a judge having no power to do so.

[mistermack]

I see a lawsuit against the judge who did that and it possibly reaching the Supreme Court.

I don't. The rules on immunity prevent that. They even prevent a lawsuit against the doctor who considered him not a threat, in most cases.

Actually, I do see the community appealing the decision as an undue imposition on them, possibly from a judge having no power to do so.

I can't see any grounds that the community could have. A community has no legal rights as to who lives in their midst. Which is just as well.
They can object to a new hostel, but you can't object to a person. Not in court, anyway.

If the guy has completed his sentence, and the state failed to detain him on mental health grounds, he's got a legal right to release and he's got to go somewhere. If there was a legal right to object to people on the grounds of previous convictions, convicts would simply be constantly moved, because nobody would want them.

[Svartalf]

He's got a legal right to be released and to go live where he will, once the judge assigns him a residence, he's imposing the presence of a convict on them, which is subject to contestation...

[Seth]

Ah, if just ONE of those women had been armed and trained we wouldn't be having this discussion at all.


I think a sterling idea is for the ankle bracelet to be linked to an app that everybody in town can have on their phones that will notify everybody if he leaves his assigned perimeter or comes within 500 feet of a child. That way an armed citizen can deal with the problem the right way this time.

[Seth]

He's got a legal right to be released and to go live where he will, once the judge assigns him a residence, he's imposing the presence of a convict on them, which is subject to contestation...

Not here it's not. People can complain, but in the end he's obliged to live where he legally can and where his parole says he must.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of an app that tracks the bracelets of EVERY criminal on parole in your area that IMMEDIATELY notifies EVERYONE in the community that there is an absconder on the loose. Why should just the parole officer be notified? They are often too busy to even bother to check on an absconder for days, weeks, months or years.

If the crook's photo and vitals popped up on everbody's phone, like an Amber Alert, as soon as he leaves the perimeter or fails to check in, then the community can be on the lookout for him and can detain him if they find him.

What a great idea!