Gilbert T. Brown
Gilbert T. Brown was a judge for the Superior Court of Santa Clara County in Santa Clara County, California.[1] He was appointed to the court in 1990 by former Governor George Deukmejian. He retired from the bench at the end of his last term on January 4, 2015.[2]
Education
Brown received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his J.D. degree from the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He was admitted to the bar in 1974.[3][4]
Career
Prior to becoming a judge in 1990, Brown spent nearly five years as a local prosecutor and then approximately eleven years as a public defender in Los Angeles County.[2]
Awards and associations
- Member, California Judges Association
- Former member, California District Attorney’s Association
- Former member, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
- Former member, California Public Defenders Association[3]
Noteworthy cases
Release of the 'Pillowcase Rapist' (2013, 2014)
A man who admitted to raping about 40 women was released from a mental hospital on July 9, 2014, to live near Palmdale, California. Judge Brown ordered the release in October 2013, ruling that Christopher Hubbart should be returned to the area in which he was born and raised. Hubbart is known as the "pillowcase rapist" for his method of pulling pillowcases over his victims' heads to silence them. The community protested his release.
Hubbart had been in custody at a state mental hospital since 1996, after serving prison time for crimes committed throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. His lawyers said that his detention at the hospital violated his rights to due process. California law requires violent sex offenders to be conditionally released prior to incarceration.[5]
The terms of the release included requirements that Hubbart be monitored by a GPS device on his ankle and be accompanied in public by a supervisor for the first six months of his release.
Retired detective Joseph Marino, however, was skeptical. He wrote the judge, stating:
| “ | Hubbart has been rehabilitated? If that’s the premise/theory precipitating his release, those of us paying attention, especially those of us who have worked the streets and have seen the system fail over and again, know beyond any reasonable doubt that this is an absolutely untrue possibility.[6][7] | ” |
Hubbart was first deemed a "mentally disordered sex offender" by a court in 1972.[5] After his release from a mental hospital in 1979, he proceeded to rape 15 more women over two years, which landed him back in prison. He was paroled in 1990, but, after attacking a woman again, he was imprisoned. In 1996, his prison term was up, so he was moved to the mental hospital.[8]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ California Courts, "Trial Courts Roster," accessed February 5, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 San Jose Mercury News, "Internal Affairs: Rumors swirl, but Santa Clara County schools chief isn't saying a thing," January 18, 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Santa Clara Law, "Honorable Gilbert Brown," accessed July 15, 2014
- ↑ Martindale.com, "Judge Profile: Gilbert T. Brown," accessed July 15, 2014
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Los Angeles Daily News, "‘Pillowcase Rapist’ released in the Antelope Valley," July 9, 2014
- ↑ Fox News, "'Pillowcase Rapist' moved into rural California community amid protests," July 10, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ U.S. News & World Report, "California serial rapist's freedom comes with strict limits, but community is still upset," July 11, 2014
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Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California
State courts:
California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts
State resources:
Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California
