Convicted Serial Rapist Scheduled To Be Released To LA County By End Of Year

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A convicted serial rapist's scheduled release from a state prison hospital to Los Angeles County has stirred up controversy.

In May, a Santa Clara judge ruled that Christopher Evans Hubbart, who was convicted in two separate trials decades ago for committing 34 rapes, 20 of them in the Los Angeles area, should be conditionally released by the end of the year.

In 1972, Hubbart was sent to prison for a string of violent rapes in Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley.

He was released in 1979 and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1983, Hubbart was back behind bars after he was found guilty of committing more rapes in the Bay Area, some of them in San Jose.

In 1990, he was released on parole again.

Every time Hubbart was released, he was quickly recommitted to prison for breaking parole, allegedly holding a hostage in one instance and making threats.

State officials then said he had a severe mental disorder that required institutional treatment.

Tony Bell, the communications director for Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, said Hubbart has been held in custody beyond his original sentences because of his mental issues.

"He has failed a psychological evaluation time after time. Apparently they're an annual evaluation. Evidently, he's passed the latest psych evaluation," said Bell.

Bell, however, said releasing Hubbart would be a huge mistake.

"When you have a violent, mentally ill sexual predator and they want to release him into our communities, we think that's indicative of a broken criminal justice system," said Bell.

Hubbart is expected to be set free in November. Antonovich said there will be a number of court hearings on Hubbart's release up until then.