Hudson murder trial heads to the jury
Singer's estranged brother-in-law on trial for murdering 3 family members
After more than four hours of closing arguments, the murder trial for the man accused of killing three relatives of Oscar award winning actress Jennifer Hudson is now in the hands of the jury as they begin deliberations.
Lead prosecutor James McKay gave a Hollywood worthy performance during his closing arguments telling jurors the evidence in this case is "overwhelming." McKay said there's no ounce of credibility to the defense teams theory that William Balfour was framed by police for the murders of Hudson's mother, brother and nephew in October 2008.
Prosecutors told the jury "its time to hold him (William Balfour) responsible for murdering and executing them."
Balfour is accused of shooting and killing Darnell Donnerson, 57, Jason Hudson, 29, and Julian King, 7. Prosecutors maintain Barfour was in a jealous rage because he thought his estranged wife Julia Hudson was cheating on him.
While taking the jury through the sequence of events the day of the murders, prosecutors repeated what William Balfour told his estranged wife Julia Hudson many times, "If you leave me I will kill you. I'll kill your family first. You'll be the last to die."
Jennifer Hudson sat in the fourth row of the courtroom with her husband and sister, Julia, as she has since the beginning of the trial more than two weeks ago. She kept her head down during the beginning of opening arguments when the prosecutor showed pictures of her three relatives before and after they were killed.
The defense maintains Julia Hudson (Jennifer's sister) and William Balfour continued a physical relationship even after he threatened to kill her and her family if she left him. Lead defense attorney Amy Thompson told jurors Balfour wasn't obsessed with Julia. He had multiple girlfriends all over the city.
"He's not on trial for being a dog - no doubt he is."
Prosecutor James McKay played off Thompson's comment, and responded during his rebuttal argument saying to jury, "Calling the defendant a dog is an insult to dogs!" The comment drew a quick objection from the defense team and half the courtroom let out a gasp.
Defense attorney Amy Thompson repeated several main points to the jury. She argues there are holes in the police investigation, citing sloppy investigative work, saying "they didn't even fingerprint the door knob of the house" where the murders happened.
She also reminded the jury there was DNA found on the murder weapon but it is not Balfour's DNA. "Every piece of DNA excludes William Balfour. The one person in all of Chicago we know didn't do it is him," said Thompson.
In his nearly 90-minute closing remarks James McKay told the jury in this case "DNA stands for 'Do Not Acquit.'" He also said if jurors believe the defense's idea that Balfour is the victim of a conspiracy, then Balfour is the "Mega Millions winner of the bad luck lottery."
William Balfour, 30, faces life in prison, if convicted on all counts, including three counts of first degree murder.
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