Monday 23 April 2012

Hudson family murder trial starts in earnest


CHICAGO — A gift of balloons. That, prosecutors contend, is what sent singer Jennifer Hudson’s then brother-in-law into such a jealous rage that he shot dead her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in a horrific act of vindictiveness in the home where the Hollywood star grew up.


A prosecutor is expected to tell jurors that Monday during opening statements at the trial of William Balfour — charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Oct. 24, 2008, slayings that generated nationwide headlines because of Hudson’s fame.


A prosecutor is expected to tell jurors that Monday during opening statements at the trial of William Balfour — charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Oct. 24, 2008, slayings that generated nationwide headlines because of Hudson's fame.
The estranged husband of Hudson's sister, Balfour believed the balloons he saw at the Hudson home came from Julia Hudson's new boyfriend; driving away for her job as a school bus driver, she glimpsed Balfour in her mirror still lingering outside, prosecutors have said.


They say Balfour went back inside the three-story house around 9 a.m. and used a .45-caliber handgun to kill Hudson's mother, 57-year-old Darnell Donerson, in the living room — then shot her 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, twice in the head as he lay in bed.

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