LOS ANGELES, CA (KABC) – In a second case in Kern County’s Lake Isabella, a violent offender convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Palmdale has been charged with murder and robbery.
Kern County prosecutors accused transgender woman Hannah Tubbs, 26, with first-degree murder on Tuesday.
According to the criminal complaint, Tubbs killed and robbed a man named Michael Clark in 2019. According to the lawsuit, she was charged under her previous identity.
Tubbs was arraigned in Bakersfield on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. The bail amount was set at $1 million.
Tubbs has a significant criminal history that includes violent acts in several states.
In 2019, Tubbs was linked to the 2014 sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl at a Palmdale Denny’s by a DNA match. Tubbs said he did it and that it happened in the bathroom of the restaurant.
Before the DNA match, Tubbs had not been charged with the violent crime that happened just before she turned 18.
The case was tried in juvenile court because the Los Angeles County District Attorney, George Gascón, has a policy that says juveniles won’t be tried as adults. A judge for young people gave Tubbs a two-year sentence in a facility for young people.
Gascón later said that he would have taken the case to an adult court if he could do it all over again.
Since then, Gascón has changed his order that kids shouldn’t be tried as adults.
In a February communication, Gascón stated that under his December 2020 direction, there is a “presumption that the office will not seek transfer of juvenile offenders to criminal jurisdiction.”
In extreme cases, criminal jurisdiction may be acceptable for juvenile offenders, stated Gascón. “The selective transfer of juveniles to the adult court system will only occur in the most egregious cases that warrant a state prison commitment, where it is abundantly clear that the minor poses a threat to the public and has significant difficulty controlling their dangerous behaviour, as determined by the evaluation for extended detention in a Secure Youth Treatment Facility.”
A separate committee, the Juvenile Alternative Charging Committee, will review cases when presented with a recommendation from the prosecutor, the deputy-in-charge, the assistant head deputy, and the head deputy of the Juvenile Division to proceed with a transfer hearing from juvenile court to adult court.
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