Child molester gets 45 years

COEUR d'ALENE - After hearing testimony Tuesday in a child sex case, a District Court judge took several minutes before sentencing a Post Falls man to 45 years in prison for molesting a 9-year-old boy.

Judge John Mitchell shuffled papers, used a yellow highlighter on the page of a court document and lamented quietly at the bench in the First District courtroom before sentencing Zachary J. Hubbard to a lengthy prison term.

Hubbard, 29, of Post Falls, was convicted of two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct in a case stemming from April when a child told a school teacher his anus was bleeding and that Hubbard had "sucked on his weiner."

Calling the case "despicable and disturbing," Mitchell sentenced Hubbard to a fixed prison term of 15 years with an additional 25 years indeterminate to be used at the discretion of prison officials. Mitchell however retained jurisdiction, allowing Hubbard to attend a one-year prison rehabilitation program before being considered for probation.

"I can't, in good conduct, begin to fathom probation for you, right now," Mitchell said.

A presentence investigation report recommended that Hubbard attend a rider program, which caught deputy prosecutor Stanley Mortensen off guard.

"This is horrible," Mortensen said. "I don't believe the PSI recommended a rider."

Mortensen asked the court for a combined 20-year sentence that included 10 years fixed. He said the child told police that Hubbard had oral sex with him at least twice, and had engaged the boy in other sexual acts. He accused the defendant of minimizing the acts and lying to detectives.

Hubbard reportedly told police, "'...the next thing I knew I had his penis in my mouth,'" Mortensen said. "As if he had slipped and fallen."

Hubbard, who bonded out of jail in April, was learning to be an elementary school teacher, Mortensen said, and despite the charges against him, had not reconsidered his career choice.

"I don't think the defendant gets it, your honor," he said.

He said Hubbard had shown the boy pornography while teaching the child to masturbate, and then performed the act on the boy. Hubbard then prayed, washed his hands and played Xbox, Mortensen said.

Public defender Sean Walsh said his client, who is gay, had enrolled in a sex offender rehabilitation program on his own accord and that he was addicted to pornography.

"He had hidden his sexual orientation for many years and it led to feelings of guilt," Walsh said. "During this process he has opened up. He has made progress."

When asked if he wanted to address the court, Hubbard, wearing slacks and a button up shirt, gestured broadly while apologizing for his actions.

"There is no amount of pain in my life that made this OK," Hubbard said. "There is nothing I can do to take it back."

Hubbard - who was married before the incident, has two children, and was a foster parent - said going to counseling has prevented him from committing suicide.

"I choose to go there everyday because I am tired of living in chaos and hurting other people in the midst of that chaos."

He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, as family members wept. Mitchell warned the defendant to abide by every detail of the orders laid out for him while in prison.

He ordered Hubbard to take a polygraph to determine if there were more incidents of molestation.

"This didn't happen once; it happened over a period of time," the judge said.