After a long process, William Balfour has finally been indicted for the horrific murders of the Hudson family:

A murder indictment was issued Tuesday against the man charged with killing the mother, brother and nephew of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson.

William Balfour had already been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, but a grand jury must indict a defendant before the case can go to trial, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

No new details or charges were outlined in the indictment against Balfour, who faces first-degree murder and home invasion charges. The 27-year-old appeared briefly in court wearing a yellow prison jumpsuit and handcuffs but did not speak.

Defense attorney Joshua Kutnick asked the judge whether Balfour could be moved to the Cook County jail from a state facility in Joliet to make it easier to communicate with his client. The judge put off ruling on that decision until Jan. 20.

Balfour is the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, the sister of singer and actress Jennifer Hudson. He has pleaded not guilty in the deaths of the entertainer’s mother, Darnell Donerson; her brother, Jason Hudson; and her 7-year-old nephew and Balfour’s stepson, Julian King.

Balfour has been in custody at the Stateville Correctional Center since shortly after the bodies of Donerson and Jason Hudson were discovered Oct. 24 at the family’s South Side home. King’s body was found three days later in an SUV on the city’s West Side. All three had been shot.

Balfour was arrested the day of the killings and held in Chicago police custody for 48 hours - the longest a person can be held without charges - before his transfer to state custody on what authorities said was a parole violation. He was charged with murder earlier this month.

Tuesday’s indictment was expected, Kutnick said. He said that hard evidence linking Balfour to the crimes does not exist and that he was conducting his own investigation.

“The police believe it is William Balfour, but the problem is what they have done. They find their suspect and build evidence around the suspect. That’s not the way it should work. They should gather evidence and it should lead to a suspect,” Kutnick said. “This was the convenient person to go to. It is bolstered by the fact that it took them so long to get him arrested and charged.”

Balfour’s mother, Michele Davis Balfour, who attended Tuesday’s hearing with several family members, declined to comment.

Balfour has not had contact with the Hudson family, Kutnick said.

Members of the Hudson family did not attend the hearing. A publicist for Jennifer Hudson declined to comment. Both Julia and Jennifer Hudson have kept a low profile since the killings.

Jennifer Hudson, who was a finalist in the 2004 season of “American Idol,” won her Oscar in 2007 for her supporting role in the movie “Dreamgirls.”

Hopefully the trial will begin soon so that Jennifer can truly begin to heal. I don’t think that it will be possible until Balfour is convicted and sentenced.

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Jennifer Hudson is poised to make her first public appearance since the tragic murders of her family members:

Hudson, 27, will perform at the MusiCares person of the year gala on Feb. 6, marking her first public appearance since her mother, brother, and nephew were tragically murdered Variety reported on Monday.

The Grammy winner who will be joined performers including Tim McGraw, Josh Groban, and Coldplay will belt out the songs of Neil Diamond at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The fundraiser is scheduled for two nights before the Recording Academy hosts the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards.

“It’s been a childhood dream of mine to release an album, so to receive 4 Grammy nominations is truly a blessing,” Hudson said in a statement earlier this month. “I’m extremely honored and humbled by the nominations.”

She is up for best R&B album for her self-titled album, best female R&B vocal performance, best R&B song for “Spotlight” and best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals for her duet with American Idol champ Fantasia Barrino, “I’m His Only Woman.”

Darnell Donerson, 57; brother, Jason, 29, and 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, were fatally shot in Chicago Oct. 24. William Balfour, the estranged husband of Jennifer’s sister Julia — was charged with the murders Dec. 2.

It’s great to know that she is ready to face the public and begin to move forward with what we all know will be a brilliant career. The holidays for 2008 will be gloomy for many because of our financial troubles but things like this just lets you know how small our own problems are sometimes. God bless her and her family.

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has been supporting her Sex And The City: The Movie co-star Jennifer Hudson while she grieves for her murdered family. Parker is insisting that Hudson is “surviving.”

Hudson canceled all of her public appearances after her mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were found shot dead at their home in Chicago, Illinois in October. Her nephew Julian King, seven, was found dead three days later.

Parker, who starred alongside Hudson in this year’s hit movie, is adamant that she is there for Hudson if she ever needs a friend.

Parker told US talkshow host Larry King, “I have been in touch with her, just wanting her to know that any little or big thing I can do - I think those of us who love her want to be there for her, to the degree that it’s appropriate. I don’t know her very well, so it’s a delicate situation. You don’t want to intrude on a person. But I just keep reminding her that I’m here, whatever that might mean to her. And it’s an unthinkable situation, really. Unthinkable.”

Parker is sure that Hudson will recover from the crisis because she is a very strong woman.

She adds, “The little bit that I would share is just that I think she’s surviving. I don’t know how a person navigates anything like this. And I think nobody is prepared for something like this. But she is incredibly strong. She is a woman of faith. And I think she is figuring out. I can’t imagine what it must be like for her.”

Hudson’s estranged brother-in-law, William Balfour, has been charged with all three murders. Balfour is married to her sister Julia Hudson.

Hudson is ready to begin filming a music video next week for her single, “If This Isn’t Love,” according to her label, J Records.

She was due to film the clip in Los Angeles when her mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered murdered in their Chicago home on the city’s South Side on Oct. 24. The body of her 7 year old nephew, Julian King, was found in a sport utility vehicle three days later.

Hudson’s brother-in-law, William Balfour, who is married to Hudson’s sister Julia, has been charged with the murders. Prosecutors have said that Balfour was upset Julia had been dating someone else.

Hudson has been in seclusion since the killings. However, she has thanked the public for their support since the tragedy, and last week issued a statement after she was nominated for four Grammy awards, including best R&B album for her self-titled debut.

“It’s been a childhood dream of mine to release an album, so to receive four Grammy nominations is truly a blessing,” she said. “I am extremely honored and humbled by the nominations.”

Hudson, also an Academy Award-winning actress, was reaching a new career peak at the time of the killings. She had just released her first CD and was also starring in the movie “The Secret Life of Bees.” and was featured in the summer blockbuster “Sex and the City” and sang the national anthem the night President-Elect Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Denver.

She has recently been featured in ads for the Gap, but those images were shot well before the murders.

After enduring so much tragedy in her life recently, it’s very nice to know that J. Hud has something she has dreamed of to look forward to:

Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, whose personal life has tragically overshadowed her professional accomplishments in recent weeks, said Thursday that she’s “honored” to be among the nominees for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.

“It’s been a childhood dream of mine to release an album, so to receive four Grammy nominations is truly a blessing. I’m extremely honored and humbled by the nominations,” Hudson said in a statement released by Arista Records.

The singer-actress’ self-titled debut is a contender for R&B Album of the Year, while the tune “Spotlight” has her in the running for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Hudson also shares a nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for her duet with Fantasia on “I’m His Only Woman.”

Hopefully she can find some comfort in knowing that her mother would be so proud of the fact that she was even nominated. Let’s pray that she wins. If so, I’m sure that will be one emotional speech.

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A prosecutor alleged Wednesday that Jennifer Hudson’s brother-in-law killed three of her relatives - with a gun stolen from one of the victims - because he was angry his estranged wife, the singer’s sister, was dating another man.

William Balfour appeared in court for the first time in connection with the deaths and was denied bond. His attorney said authorities have no forensic evidence linking Balfour to the killings, but prosecutors said witness statements and the suspect’s own lies and threats helped lead them to him.

Balfour was charged with murder Tuesday after being held for weeks on a parole violation. The slightly built man, wearing a yellow jump suit, stood quietly Wednesday as prosecutor LuAnn Snow described how he allegedly killed his 7-year-old stepson, Julian King, Hudson’s mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and Hudson’s brother, Jason Hudson.

Snow said Balfour had been at the Hudsons’ South Side home early Oct. 24 and confronted his estranged wife, Julia Hudson, about a birthday present he believed she had received from a boyfriend.

Balfour, Snow said, also had shown up to Julia Hudson’s workplace earlier in the month to confront her about dating another man.

“He told her at the time that her family would suffer if she saw other men,” Snow said after Wednesday’s hearing.

Balfour threatened Julia Hudson again that morning at the home, Snow said, adding that Hudson did not take the threat seriously because he “had not followed through on any of those threats” before.

The two left the home together that morning, with Hudson driving away as she saw Balfour walking toward his own car, according to documents prosecutors filed with the court.

But Balfour’s car broke down and two acquaintances gave him a ride to a gas station - during which time Balfour told them he had a handgun, but had left it in his car, Snow alleged.

In fact, the prosecutor said, the gun belonged to Jason Hudson and Balfour allegedly stole it during the summer. “Several people observed defendant with the gun in the late summer of 2008,” Snow said.

Balfour was taken back to his disabled car after the trip to the gas station, “although he was offered a ride to other locations,” Snow told the court.

In the stark language of a legal document she was reading from, Snow described what allegedly happened next:

“Defendant then entered the home at 7019 S. Yale at gunpoint,” she read. “He shot Darnell Donerson several times while she was in the living room area. He then went into Jason Hudson’s bedroom and shot him two times in the head.”

Jason Hudson, she said, was still in bed when he was shot.

Balfour allegedly then took 7-year-old Julian and put him in Jason Hudson’s white SUV. “Defendant shot Julian King in the head while the 7-year-old was laying behind the front seat of the Suburban,” Snow read. His body was found three days later in the SUV.

Balfour’s attorney, Joshua Kutnick, criticized the first-degree murder and home invasion charges against his client, saying no fingerprint, blood or other forensic evidence links the 27-year-old to the slayings.

“There is no direct evidence of Mr. Balfour committing these crimes,” he said, adding that a girlfriend who claims Balfour confessed to her and asked her to provide him with an alibi is “highly suspect.”

Snow said there is evidence linking Balfour to the crimes, including gunshot residue on the steering wheel of the car that had broken down.

Further, she said, Balfour has made statements to authorities that detectives have disproved. For example, while Balfour claimed he used a transit card to ride a train from the Hudson residence to his home, “The card was last used two days before the murders,” Snow said.

Balfour also does not appear on surveillance video of the train station he said he rode to, Snow said.

Cell phone records and gas station surveillance video show Balfour was in the immediate vicinity of the Hudsons’ home until shortly after 9 a.m., according to the court documents. Snow said Balfour claimed he was at his West Side home at 10 a.m. the morning of the killings but cell phone records show he did not return there until just before 1 p.m.

Kutnick argued that none of that means his client killed anyone. He told the judge Balfour has not confessed and no one has come forward saying they saw him commit the crimes.

As for the gunshot residue, Kutnick said after Wednesday’s hearing that Balfour’s car had been left unattended the day of the killings and it wasn’t known if anyone else had used it. He also said witnesses linking Balfour to Jason Hudson’s stolen gun are unreliable.

Balfour previously went to prison for seven years for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking. His next court date in the murder case is set for Dec. 30.

Jennifer Hudson was a finalist in the 2004 season of “American Idol” and won her Oscar in 2007 for her film debut, a supporting role in “Dreamgirls.” She has mostly stayed out of the spotlight and close to her family since the killings.

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William Balfour

I hope that they fry his a$$:

It looks as if William Balfour really isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, as a judge just denied him bail at a hearing in Chicago.

Prosecutors revealed they found gunshot residue on the steering wheel of the car Balfour drove to the Hudson house. They also presented evidence that refuted several of Balfour’s alibis, including his location at the time of the murders and his use of the subway to get to the Hudson house.

Balfour’s lawyer still argued for bail on the grounds the state’s evidence is largely circumstantial.

He was charged yesterday with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion.

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Thank God the police took their time and got it right:

Police arrested the estranged brother-in-law of Jennifer Hudson on Monday in the deaths of the entertainer’s mother, brother and young nephew, taking him from a prison where he had been held on a suspected parole violation.

William Balfour was arrested at Stateville Correctional Center and released to detectives as he awaited formal charges in the shooting deaths of the singer and Oscar-winning actress’ relatives, said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

Until Monday, police had identified Balfour, 27, only as a “person of interest” in the investigation. He had not been charged by Monday evening, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The bodies of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were discovered Oct. 24 at the family’s home on the South Side of Chicago. The body of 7-year-old Julian King was found three days later in a sport utility vehicle on the West Side. All three had been shot.

Police took Balfour into custody the same day the bodies of Donerson and Hudson were discovered. After 48 hours - the longest Chicago police can hold a person without charges - Balfour was taken by the Illinois Department of Corrections on the suspected parole violation.

Balfour - Julian’s stepfather and the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson’s older sister, Julia Hudson - served seven years for a 1999 attempted murder and vehicular hijacking conviction.

His mother, Michelle Davis-Balfour of Chicago, told reporters outside a police station Monday night that authorities don’t have a case against her son.

“If they found gun powder on his hands, you got a case; if they found a gun on him, he had a case; if they found a fingerprint on the truck that he did this, you got a case; but they don’t have nothing,” Davis-Balfour said.

Balfour had refused to take a lie-detector test and stopped cooperating with detectives, according to a police official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Police have confirmed they found the gun used in the killings. The .45-caliber gun was discovered Oct. 29 in a vacant lot in the West Side neighborhood where the King’s body was found a few days earlier.

Bond declined to discuss any evidence Monday. But after a hearing at the prison, the chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board said a woman had told authorities that a gun used in the slayings was “identical” to the gun that was recovered.

At the time, board Chairman Jorge Montes said the evidence was key to a decision finding probable cause that Balfour violated his parole and should remain locked up pending a Dec. 3 hearing before a review board panel.

Balfour did not have an attorney at the November hearing, and the Cook County public defender’s office said at the time that nobody from the office had been assigned because he was not formally charged with a crime.

No one in the public defender’s office was assigned to Balfour’s case late Monday, and it’ was not clear whether he had other representation.

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After all that she’s been through she found the time to reach out to her fans:

Jennifer Hudson is thanking fans for their support during her recent tragedy.

In a statement on her MySpace page, the Oscar-winning actress and singer says: “I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. My sister and I take great comfort and strength from your love and concern.”

Last week, Hudson buried her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew, who were all slain in her hometown of Chicago. Hudson has been in seclusion since the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the Gap is unveiling new ads featuring a smiling Hudson. However, her representative says the campaign went to print before the tragedies.

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Balfour will not be released after startling evidence comes to light:

The man police have called a suspect in the murder of actress Jennifer Hudson’s family will remain in prison while investigators continue to investigate the triple slaying.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board ruled this morning that there was reason to believe that William Balfour, 27, had violated his parole. The major reason was that his girlfriend had said that she had seen him with a gun that matched the murder weapon, according to Jorge Montes, chairman of the review board.

In addition, the board said he had violated parole by being in places where drugs were sold. That stems from a June 19 drug arrest, but Balfour’s parole was not revoked at that time.

During the hearing, Balfour protested the use of the evidence that authorities presented to hold him, Montes said. Balfour was not represented by a lawyer.

Another full hearing to decide whether to revoke Balrour’s parole was set for Dec. 3.

Balfour, who is married to the Oscar-winning actress’ sister, Julia Hudson, has been on parole for a 1999 attempted murder conviction.

After he was questioned by Chicago detectives for 48 hours, his parole was revoked following the Oct. 24 murders of his estranged wife’s brother, mother and 7-year-old son. He has not been charged in the case. He has been held at Stateville Correctional Center outside Joliet since Oct. 26.

Balfour acknowledged being at the Hudson’s Englewood home on the morning that the actress’ mother, Darnell Donerson, and her brother, Jason Hudson, were gunned down inside the house, law enforcement sources said. Julia Hudson’s son, Julian, was abducted from the home and his body discovered three days later, shot twice in the head and slumped in the back of Jason Hudson’s Chevy Suburban on a West Side street.

Balfour’s current girlfriend also told police that he told her he had been involved in the killings of Donerson and Hudson, sources said.

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