California Judge refuses to revoke release of serial rapist

By Tami Abdollah and Olga R. Rodriguez Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge's decision not to revoke the release of a serial rapist has outraged the community in Southern California where he has lived since his release last year. Santa Clara County Judge Richard Loftus made his ruling Monday in the case of Christopher Hubbart, saying the man is not "a danger to the health and safety of others." Prosecutors said Hubbart - known as the "pillowcase rapist" - violated the terms of his July release when he let the power in his ankle monitor run too low twice. "Two low battery alerts were registered in September and October of 2014, but none since," Loftus wrote in his ruling. "No other evidence of supervision breach was presented. Residents of Antelope Valley, where he has lived since July, disagreed with Loftus and said they are afraid he would rape again. Cheryl Holbrook, one of the Ladies of Lake LA, a group created to fight Hubbart's release to their community, said she was angry and shaken by Monday's decision. "This is scary news, really scary. Terrifying," said Holbrook, who lives about five miles away from Hubbart's home and said she was raped as a 14-year-old by two men at knifepoint and impregnated. "I've got the chills." Holbrook fought against Hubbart's initial release to her community, even driving up to Santa Clara in April to provide public comment at a hearing. There have been daily demonstrations in front of Hubbart's home for months and some people have burned effigies and held up signs telling him to "burn in hell," she said. One person tried to run him off the road and another pulled a toy gun on one of his guards and those attacks have only helped his case, she said. "Those people that are out there, they only helped his case ... they've pushed and pushed and pushed on him, and he didn't react to them by going off on them or trying to fight with them," Holbrook said. "They just made him look like Mr. Goody Two Shoes. This really, really upsets me." A contrite and polite Hubbart told the judge in April that keeping the ankle monitor fully powered was his responsibility. Prosecutors say it is a condition of his release. Prosecutors asked that he be returned to a mental hospital less than a year after setting up residence in a neighborhood in the Antelope Valley outside Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Michael D. Antonovich denounced Loftus' decision, saying it was dangerous and disappointing. Local elected leaders also protested Hubbart's moving to the region and asked the court to reconsider its decision to release him from the hospital. Tim Fletcher, a retired police officer in charge of Hubbart's security, said the two violations were the only blemishes on Hubbart's record since his release. Fletcher said he was not recommending that Hubbart be returned to the mental hospital because others have let batteries run low on monitoring devices. Hubbart has been in and out of prison and mental hospitals since he was first convicted of rape in 1972. He acknowledged raping about 40 women through 1982, using a pillowcase to muffle screams. A jury declared Hubbart a sexually violent predator in 2000, and he was committed to a state-run mental hospital in Coalinga, even though he had served his prison term. In 2013, doctors at the hospital declared that Hubbart was fit to live in the community. Published: Wed, May 13, 2015