Hubbard May Plead Guilty to Rapes, Robbery : Courts: Ex-police officer accused of beach attacks may agree to plea bargain likely to keep him in prison 25 to 35 years. A trial could result in a much stiffer sentence.

Henry Hubbard, the former San Diego police officer charged with a string of rapes and robberies last summer along the shore, may agree today to a plea bargain that would send him to prison until he is old but at least give him hope of seeing freedom, sources said.

Under the deal, Hubbard, who is facing a prison term of about 160 years if convicted of all 38 charges against him, would plead guilty to a set of charges that would lead to a sentence of 50 to 70 years, sources said.

That sentence would give the 30-year-old Hubbard the possibility of parole in 25 to 35 years, sources said. In return, prosecutors would spare two teen-age rape victims the trauma of testifying against Hubbard and avert a lengthy and costly trial, sources said.

Hubbard, a patrol officer for 4 1/2 years, was arrested last August and charged with raping seven women during a string of crimes along the coast from La Jolla to Solana Beach. He patrolled the beach area and worked the late shift, until 1 a.m. All but one of the attacks occurred shortly after that time.

Hubbard has pleaded not guilty to the 38 counts of rape, robbery, attempted robbery, kidnaping, sexual battery and other charges. He has been held since arrest in the County Jail.

The trial in the case is due to begin Aug. 10. A pretrial hearing, the latest of several this week, is due to be held today before San Diego Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos.

At that hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen R. Anear and Hubbard’s defense attorney, Kerry Steigerwalt, are poised to seal the deal, sources said, cautioning that it is not final. Three sources confirmed the details of the bargain but all asked to remain anonymous, saying the case is extraordinarily sensitive because it involves a police officer charged with crime.

Anear could not be reached Wednesday for comment. Steigerwalt declined to comment.

Though the plea bargain is not yet struck, sources stressed this week that there is tremendous pressure on both the prosecution and defense to reach a deal.

DNA evidence links Hubbard to all seven rapes, according to court documents.

Hubbard has been positively identified in a live lineup by seven of 14 victims of last summer’s crime rampage, according to grand jury transcripts. Five others have tentatively identified him as the attacker, the transcripts said. Two could not make an identification.

If convicted after a trial, Hubbard is likely to receive a harsh sentence that would keep him locked up for life, sources said. “He has to plead,” a source said. “It’s the only hope he has of seeing any daylight.”

A prosecution concern is that two of the seven rape victims are teen-age girls. They were attacked at Windansea Beach in La Jolla last July, when they were 13 and 14 years old.

During that attack, according to the grand jury transcripts, a gunman took the 13-year-old away from her girlfriend and older boyfriend and raped her. At one point, he asked, “Why don’t you get into it a little bit?” according to her testimony.

The assailant then walked back to the 14-year-old and, at gunpoint, told her to lie beside her friend. He ordered them to masturbate themselves and each other.

He thought to ask the 14-year-old if she was a virgin. When she said yes, he replied, “We’ll change that” before raping her. He then went on to rape the 13-year-old two more times.

No one wants to put the girls through that testimony again, a source said. The grand jury held hearings on the case last October.

“A main motivation is to avoid trauma to those young victims,” a source said. “Otherwise, the crimes don’t warrant a lot of (plea bargain) consideration.”

The 392-page grand jury transcript, released last November, portrays a cool and collected gunman who grew increasingly brazen with each attack.

Earlier assaults occurred in remote beach areas near dark cliffs. By the end of the series, the masked assailant approached a couple sitting on a bluff outside their apartment. And he attacked two men and a woman on Torrey Pines State Beach close to Highway 101.

The first attack that Hubbard is charged with occurred in September, 1990, and involved forcible rape, rape with a foreign object and residential burglary.

Five other rapes occurred from June 15 to July 20 of last year, including the attack on the two teen-agers at Windansea Beach.

Last Aug. 15, Hubbard was arrested in connection with an attack on two men and a women at Torrey Pines State Beach in which the assailant was shot. The two male victims were also wounded.

Shortly after the early morning assault, Hubbard checked into a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound in his hand. His police flashlight was found near the crime scene, and sand was discovered in his clothing.