Hubbard Victim of Plot, Attorney Says : Crime: He says police framed his client because he testified against officers. Defense is called ‘bizarre.’

The San Diego police officer accused of attempted murder and attempted robbery at a local beach last week was framed by colleagues who nurtured a grudge ever since he testified against fellow officers during a trial last year, the officer’s attorney said Thursday.

In a startling defense of Henry Hubbard Jr., attorney Allen R. Bloom said outside the courtroom that police officers set Hubbard up, arranged his beating on the freeway, stole his gun and flashlight and then had two young men shot on Torrey Pines State Beach.

No officers were named and Bloom provided no information to substantiate his claim, saying that “there are many more questions we have to answer.”

Hubbard pleaded not guilty Thursday to all charges. Municipal Court Judge Joan P. Weber, saying that Hubbard “presents an extreme danger to the community,” set bail at $2 million.

Prosecutors accused Hubbard of donning a mask and demanding the car keys and wallets of the two men and a young woman who had emerged from the ocean at 4 a.m. eight days ago. They say Hubbard demanded that one of the men tie the other, and that the woman bind the first man.

The pattern of a gunman approaching couples or threesomes and requiring that they tie each other is similar to six other attacks at San Diego area beaches the past two months, police say.

In this instance, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Anear said the men rushed Hubbard, who Anear said shot both in the chest, accidentally shot himself in the hand, and ran off, dropping a flashlight engraved with his name and police identification number.

One of the two men has been released from the hospital. The other is recovering and in fair condition. The woman was not hurt.

At the hospital, where Hubbard was taken after the shooting, investigators discovered sand on his clothing, in his shoes and in his hand wound, Anear said. At the crime scene, they also discovered spent casings from a .380-caliber handgun that matched the same make gun registered to Hubbard, he said.

“We are faced with an accused robber who is willing to kill in order to evade capture,” Anear said. “He is an individual trained in the use of weapons. He has shown no reluctance to use them. He appears to be a prolific serial rapist and robber, and he presents a grave danger to society.”

Fifteen of Hubbard’s relatives and friends, including his wife Karen, brother Morris, two sisters-in-law, a brother-in-law and others, attended Thursday’s arraignment. Bloom asked them to stand so Weber could see the measure of support Hubbard had built over the years.

Wearing the same coal-black suit of his first court appearance Monday, Hubbard stood with deadpan expression and blinked repeatedly as he listened to the allegations against him. His left arm is bandaged from his wrist to his elbow.

Outside the courtroom, Bloom offered what he said was the true story behind last week’s shooting.

Hubbard was one of six officers at the scene of a May 1990 incident involving a Mission Beach man, who said he had been beaten by the police for no reason. The man was charged with a crime and Hubbard “broke the code (of silence) involving a police officer and testified in court” against the others, Bloom said.

As a result, the man was acquitted, Bloom said, and has filed a $6-million federal lawsuit against all six officers, including Hubbard.

“If there was ever a motive for this being a setup situation, this is it,” Bloom said. “In my 20-plus years as an attorney, I never have found a case that smells more of some type of impropriety than this one.”

On the night of the beach attack, Bloom said, Hubbard left work after his regular 1 a.m. shift and headed home south on I-805, the route he normally takes, when his car stalled. Hubbard got out to look under the hood and “Bang! The hood comes down on his head and there’s a struggle. Two, three, a certain number of men are hitting him,” Bloom said. The attack clearly was in retaliation for Hubbard’s testimony, he said.

Hubbard had a gun and somehow, in the struggle, it went off and the officer was shot in the hand, Bloom said. The attorney said he did not know who the assailants were. Hubbard later told his wife and investigators that three Latino men attacked him on the freeway.

Bloom said Hubbard passed out for several hours. Meanwhile, someone drove to the beach and shot the two youths before dropping the flashlight, he said. Anear declined to say whether the gun used in the attack was ever found. Police have said that two weapons were recovered from Hubbard: one from his home and one from his work locker.

During the court appearance, Bloom alleged that prosecutors know of a witness who has seen the suspect during another attack and said Hubbard looks nothing like him.

“This ‘series’ of crimes have been committed by a man who has been described as 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-10 or 6-feet or 6-foot-2,” Bloom said. “He is 140, 160, 180, 200 or 220 pounds and he is either black, white or Hispanic.”

Hubbard is black, 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds.

Anear said he knew nothing of the witness Bloom referred to. He described Bloom’s defense of Hubbard as “bizarre.”

Well-liked by his fellow officers, Hubbard has spent 4 1/2 years with the department. He has been described as an “above average” officer who patrolled the beach areas from Pacific Beach to Torrey Pines State Park. Friends from Hubbard’s hometown of Lancaster, S.C., say they refuse to believe Hubbard could have anything to do with the crimes of which he is accused.

In denying bail, Judge Weber said Hubbard is charged with “a violation of a public trust that could take years to recover from.”