Judge: Contrite Boy Is a Threat : Courts: He refuses parents’ plea to release 14-year-old Richard Hubler, citing earlier gun offense. Defense says the ‘remorseful’ boy loved the sister he’s accused of killing.

Richard Hubler aimed a gun at his sister’s head and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Then he tried again and shot her in the head, the prosecutor alleged Thursday as he argued that Hubler should not be released to his parents.

But at a hearing attended by Hubler’s mother and father, Deputy Public Defender Sharon Petrosino said the shooting was a tragic accident. She pleaded with the judge to allow the boy to go home while he awaits trial on a charge of murdering 12-year-old Gema Marie Hubler at the family home on June 14.

Judge C. Robert Jameson agreed with the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Brent F. Romney, and ordered that the 14-year-old eighth-grader remain in custody. Jameson said that because of earlier offenses involving guns, he believed that the youth could pose a danger to others.

Hubler, now under suicide watch at Orange County Juvenile Hall, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder.

Romney told the judge there is evidence that the youth was not on good terms with his sister and that, on the day of the killing, he feared that she was going to tell their parents that he had a gun.

But Petrosino said outside the courtroom that Hubler “loved his sister. . . . He’s emotionally upset and very remorseful. My client had an interest in guns. But he was not interested in killing his sister.” She said the boy insists that he did not know the sawed-off .22-caliber rifle was loaded when he pointed it at his sister.

She argued that his parents are very distraught over what happened but that they believe that the shooting was an accident and want their son home with them.

But Romney argued that Hubler’s background proves he is dangerous. He alleged that just four days before the killing, Hubler’s parents took a .38-caliber revolver away from him and hid it in the garage.

At the time of the fatal shooting, Hubler was on probation for shooting a neighbor in the back with a BB gun in 1988. After that incident, he was found to have a stolen .357 magnum pistol.

Possessing guns was a violation of Hubler’s probation.

His parents, James and Marie Hubler, two brothers, a grandmother and an aunt from Spain and 12 of the youth’s friends attended Thursday’s hearing.

When the friends walked into the courtroom, a bailiff ordered them out, saying he was concerned about maintaining security. James Hubler then got into an angry exchange with the bailiff, asking if reporters also would be asked to leave. Later, the judge allowed the young people back in the courtroom to watch the proceedings.

“The family is very distraught,” Petrosino said after the hearing. “They lost a daughter, and now they feel they are losing a son to a system that doesn’t believe him.”

“They know the sister and brother didn’t have any problems,” Petrosino added.

The defense attorney argued that there is no evidence to support a murder charge and that the youth is being prosecuted only because of his record of weapons violations.

She compared his case to another recent juvenile shooting in which no criminal charges have been filed. On May 24, Christian Wiedepuhl, 17, was fatally shot in the head in an Anaheim home by a teen-age classmate.

On June 19, Judge Jameson denied Hubler permission to attend his sister’s funeral. However, last week, Hubler and his family received permission to say a rosary for his sister at Juvenile Hall, Petrosino said.

Gema Marie, who was described as a bright, friendly sixth-grader, was shot in the upstairs bedroom of the family’s Anaheim Shores home around 12:30 p.m. on June 14. When authorities arrived, they found her covered with a blanket and her head wrapped in bandages.

She underwent surgery at UCI Medical Center in Orange for the single gunshot wound but remained in a coma until she died June 18.

While she was still comatose, Hubler wrote her a letter and asked family members to read it to her in the hospital, Petrosino disclosed. He now carries her photograph and funeral holy card with him at all times, the attorney said.

Initially, the boy told police that his sister was shot by three armed robbers who broke into the house and fled.

But Anaheim police said that they found many inconsistencies in his story and that their investigation led them to believe that Hubler concocted the story and that he was responsible for the shooting.

Hubler is scheduled to appear again in Juvenile Court next Thursday for a pretrial hearing.