Suspect in controversial child molestation case pleads not guilty to murder in Kern County
A transgender woman who had been ordered to serve two years in juvenile custody for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Palmdale in 2014, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a murder charge in Kern County.
Tubbs' case has prompted widespread criticism of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and his policies.
The Kern County District Attorney's Office filed the criminal complaint, with charges of murder and second-degree robbery against 26-year-old Hannah Tubbs under her birth name, James Edward Tubbs, for the April 21, 2019 killing of Michael Clark.
The 22-year-old Clark, from College Place, Washington, was found in the Kern River in August 2019, according to media reports.
Tubbs, who is due back in court May 20 for the murder charge, was being held on a $1 million dollar bond.
DA Gascón, in February, admitted that Tubbs' sentence in the Los Angeles County sexual assault case "may not" be adequate, backing away from one of his most criticized directives, that of eliminating the option of trying juveniles as adults for serious crimes.
RELATED: Gascon Acknowledges Sentence Not Adequate For Convicted Child Sex Abuser Hannah Tubbs
In his February statement, the county's top prosecutor said he became aware after Tubbs' sentencing of "extremely troubling statements she made about her case, the resolution of it and the young girl that she harmed."
"While for most people, several years of jail time is adequate, it may not be for Ms. Tubbs," the DA said.
Tubbs was 17-years-old at the time of the 2014 attack in the restroom of a Palmdale restaurant. The case was handled in juvenile court because of directives Gascón issued.
The DA also acknowledge that the defendant had been arrested years after the 2014 crime and had subsequently been charged with offenses in other counties.
"If we knew about her disregard for the harm she caused, we would have handled this case differently. The complex issues and facts of her particular case were unusual and I should have treated them that way," Gascón said in his statement.
He also added that the DA's Office has since implemented policies "to create a different pathway for outlier cases while simultaneously creating protections to prevent these exceptions from becoming the rule."
Gascón is now facing a second recall effort, in which the Association of Deputy District Attorneys has announced its overwhelming support for.
