A trans-identified male previously given a lenient two-year sentence in a youth treatment facility for girls after admitting to sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl has been handed a 15-year prison term for bludgeoning his friend to death with a rock.
Hannah Tubbs, born James Tubbs, now 27, had joked about gaming the system after he was tried and housed in a juvenile detention center for females. He had pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse, an offense he committed in 2014, two weeks before his 18th birthday. Tubbs has now accepted a plea deal and a charge of manslaughter for reportedly beating Michael Clark to death with a rock in an assault that took place in April 2019 in Kern County, California.
Prior to the plea deal, Tubbs had been charged with first-degree murder, threatening a witness, robbery and assault. In exchange for a lesser charge of manslaughter, Tubbs pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Victim Michael Clark, 22, was a camper from College Place, Washington. Deputy District Attorney Bryant Estep told the court that Tubbs and Clark were friends and were both participants in a “survivalist transient group,” a collection of homeless individuals who were camping together in the Lake Isabella area at the time of Clark’s death. During the trial, Clark’s father testified that Tubbs had lived with his son for a brief period.
Clark’s body was pulled from the Kern River in Lake Isabella in August 2019. He had been killed while camping in the area in April that year. Tubbs was charged on May 10 for the homicide, then remanded to the custody of a male jail on a $1 million bond.
Kern County District Attorney Investigator Donald Krueger testified last May that, when questioned about Clark’s death, Tubbs had claimed to have dual personalities competing in his mind.
Investigator Krueger detailed how Tubbs had told him about a “transgender-me” as one of his personalities. Tubbs also claimed to have a darker, angrier persona that caused him to black out and commit actions that he later cannot recall.
Tubbs had told Krueger at that time that his darker side took over during Clark’s killing, around April 21, 2019, when he reportedly beat the young man to death with a rock.
Tubbs first made headlines last February after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl in the bathroom of a family restaurant in 2014. He was two weeks shy of his 18th birthday when he followed the 10-year-old into the bathroom of a Denny’s in Palmdale, California, grabbed her by the throat, and forced his hand down her pants. He only stopped his attack when someone entered the restroom, and then ran away before he could be detained.
In a decision that sparked massive backlash, L.A. County prosecutors said Tubbs would not have to register as a sex offender after completing his two-year sentence, which would be served in a juvenile treatment center where he was housed with female youth for a short time.
A judge in Antelope Valley, California, ruled that Tubbs would be sent to a juvenile detention facility, where he would be kept with underage female delinquents.
L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón had ruled in early 2022 that he would not take Tubbs’ case out of juvenile court, stating that he would not press for jail time in an adult facility, as the crime was committed while Tubbs was 17-years-old.
During the January 27 hearing, Judge Mario Barrera stated repeatedly that he was limited to sentencing Tubbs to two years because the District Attorney’s Office did not file a request to transfer the case to adult court.
“Judge Barrera’s hands were tied today — due to the fact that the DA’s office failed to file a motion to transfer Tubbs to adult criminal court, which is where [he] rightly belongs,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger of the judgment. “Instead, we’re left with a 26-year-old individual sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility in isolation, separated by sight and sound from the other juveniles.”
Soon after Tubbs was moved to the youth treatment center for girls, audio of a call between Tubbs and his father was leaked, in which the child molester was heard laughing and boasting about the lenient sentence being arranged for him.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s a strike, but they’re gonna plead, I’m [going to] plead out to them and then plead guilty. They’re going to stick me on probation. And it’s going to be dropped. It’s going to be done, done. I won’t have to register,” Tubbs said during the call, excitedly exclaiming “Nothing!” when his father asked what the consequences of his actions would be.
A repeat sexual predator and violent offender, Tubbs had previously been convicted of sexually abusing a four-year-old girl in the bathroom of a library in Bakersfield, California, and accused of fondling another four-year-old girl in the bathroom of a toy store.
Less than six months before attacking the 10-year-old girl in 2019, Tubbs had been given a four-year sentence for attacking a man with a knife while using the alias ‘Cesar,’ and had also been twice convicted of aggravated battery in the state of Idaho.
Local news reports on Tubbs’ recent plea deal and sentencing have referred to him simply as a “woman” or a “transgender woman,” despite being male. Tubbs reportedly began to claim a transgender status only after his arrest for the sexual assault of a child. The predator was charged as a man for the murder of Clark, under his given name James. However, presiding Judge Zulfa referred to the male detainee as ‘Hannah.’
In February this year, a Los Angeles attorney who assisted in the prosecution of the child molester was reportedly suspended from his role by the District Attorney’s office after being accused “misgendering and deadnaming” the predator.
Shea Sanna, who was the lead prosecuting attorney for part of the case against Tubbs, was suspended for 5 days without pay by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. Fox News was first to report the details in an article which used “she/her” pronouns to refer to the offender.
Sanna had previously argued Tubbs was attempting to use his gender identity to receive favorable treatment from the justice system, something Fox sources reported made others in Gascón’s office uncomfortable and ultimately led to the suspension.
Sanna told The Daily Mail, “Up until he was in custody, he was not transgender. He only uses transgender to get special housing. While in custody, he made a series of phone calls and I listened to 280, 285 maybe. Jail calls. Only in a couple did he refer to himself as a female, him and his dad. And that was when he was making up the transgender status. Every phone call, his dad is referring to him as James.”
While it has not yet been revealed whether Tubbs will serve his sentence in the female prison estate, California law requires inmates to be housed according to their self-declared gender identity. The Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act, also known as SB132, was signed into effect in January 2021 by Governor Gavin Newsom.
As of October 18, 2023 there were 1,847 incarcerated people of either sex who stated that they identified as transgender, non-binary or intersex, according to the state of California. Multiple violent men who claim to identify as women have been transferred into or sentenced to spend their terms in the female prison estate since the passage of SB132.
One such inmate is Dana Rivers, previously known as David Warfield. Rivers, 68, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the case of a 2016 triple homicide which Judge Scott Patton had described as “the most depraved crime” he had ever handled during his 33-year tenure.