COEUR d’ALENE ­— A 30-year-old convicted sex offender who returned from a prison rehabilitation program will have to wait another month before learning if First District Judge John Mitchell will place him on probation.

Despite glowing reports from prison officials who called Zachary J. Hubbard a model inmate who followed rules, took seriously his rehabilitation and found God behind bars, deputy prosecutor Barry Black and Mitchell weren’t so sure if Hubbard belonged back on the streets.

“The elements involved in this case are extremely disturbing,” Black told the court at a Tuesday afternoon hearing. “The level of abuse he imposed on this young boy indicates his sexual desire for young children.”

Hubbard, of Post Falls, was convicted of two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct last autumn after an 8-year-old child told his 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, but the judge also retained jurisdiction.

That means Mitchell had one year from the September 2017 sentencing date to reassess if Hubbard should be on probation based on how well he performed in a 9-month prison rehabilitation program.

“I can’t, in good conduct, begin to fathom probation for you, right now,” Mitchell said last year.

The judge told Hubbard he would only release him if he performed extremely well on the prison programs, and even then he would have to be convinced probation was the proper outcome.

Black told the court that psychiatrists who evaluated Hubbard said he posed a moderate risk to reoffend.

“That’s not an acceptable risk under these conditions,” Black said.

Sean P. Walsh, Hubbard’s Coeur d’Alene defense attorney, said the reports from prison were glowing, and that he had rarely seen such improvement in an inmate.

“I have never seen a more positive report in a sex offender case,” Walsh said.

Hubbard, who told the court last year he wanted to be a school teacher, was leaner than when he entered the prison program.

He told Mitchell that whatever the judge decided, he would accept it.

Mitchell said he would make no decision without seeing the results of a new psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph test that focuses on Hubbard’s sexual desires. The test must give the judge a better understanding of Hubbard’s risk of reoffending.

Mitchell set Sept. 4 for another court date, which is just weeks shy of the time the judge is allowed to retain jurisdiction. If the tests aren’t completed by then the department of corrections will take over the case.

“You know where this is headed,” Mitchell said. “If I had to make a decision today, it would be to impose your sentence.”