An admitted serial rapist who attacked 38 women in California could be a free man within weeks after the state’s Supreme Court denied prosecutors’ requests to block his release from a state mental hospital.

Christopher Hubbart, a sexually violent predator dubbed the “Pillowcase Rapist,” has spent nearly two decades in mental institutions after admitting to sexually assaulting more than three dozen women throughout California between 1971 and 1982, often putting pillowcases over victims’ heads to muffle their screams. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey petitioned the state Supreme Court in July to block Hubbart’s release, but the justice’s rejected her request on Wednesday without comment.

Lacey, who has called the 62-year-old Hubbart a “significant threat to public safety,” sought a new hearing on whether Hubbart should be released in Santa Clara County, where he committed his most recent crimes, rather than Los Angeles.

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“He would drive around in the early morning and look for homes that had garage doors open, indicating the man of the house had gone to work,” the petition continued. “He would also look for children’s toys, believing that mothers would be protective of their children and more likely to cooperate with him. He would bind the women’s hand and cover their faces, then sexually assault them.”

More: CA’s ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ to Be Released in L.A. County