With all of the evidence against him, Balfour has decided to take it to trial:

William Balfour has pleaded not guilty today (January 20) on first degree murder and home invasion charges stemming from the triple homicide of Jennifer Hudson relatives Jason Hudson (brother), Darnell Donerson (mother), and 7 year-old nephew Julian King.

Balfour is the estranged husband of Jennifer’s sister Julia, and remains in custody without bail.

Prosecutors accuse him of carrying out the three shootings as a crime of passion, jealous that his wife had begun dating another man.

The remains of Donerson and Jason Hudson were found October 24 in the family’s home, located in the South Side of Chicago.

On October 27, the body of missing 7 year-old Julian King was found several blocks away in an abandoned SUV, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds.

Defense attorneys for Balfour maintain that there is no forensic evidence to tie their client to the crime.

In addition to requesting a new judge, defense attorney Joshua Kutnick also requested that the courts move Balfour from Joliet state prison to Cook County Jail, citing better access to Balfour in building their case.

On February 1, Jennifer Hudson will make her first public appearance since the slayings on Super Bowl Sunday, where she will sing the National Anthem.

Five days later, Hudson will also perform at the Grammy’s MusiCares event.

The singer has been nominated for Best R&B album (Jennifer Hudson), Best R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song (”Spotlight”), and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group (”I’m His Only Woman”).

William Balfour’s next court date is scheduled for January 27.

Many hoped that Balfour would plead guilty which would spare Hudson more pain, but this animal chose instead to draw it out. Hopefully he will be found guilty and given the most severe penalty available to the judge.

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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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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The convicted felon suspected in the killings of the mother, brother and nephew of singer Jennifer Hudson has a parole hearing set for Monday and could be released if an administrative officer finds that there is no reason to hold him.

No one has been charged in the killings, but authorities have called 27-year-old William Balfour a “person of interest” in the case. Balfour is still in custody on a parole violation. He is the estranged husband of Julia Hudson, sister Jennifer Hudson.

The chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, Jorge Montes (HOR’-hay MON’-tehs), says that if an administrative officer finds cause to continue holding Balfour, the case then would go to a review board for a hearing.

However, Montes says “conceivably” Balfour could be released.

Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the investigation of the killings is continuing and is independent of the prisoner review board’s decisions.

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It seems that the Chicago police may not have enough evidence to charge Balfour with the murders:

Monday morning could be absolutely huge in the Hudson family murder case — the cops’ only suspect, William Balfour, could walk out of jail a free man.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Balfour, who’s only being held on a parole violation in a case unrelated to the murders, could “conceivably” skate if there’s not enough evidence to prove he did violate his parole. He’s scheduled to face the Illinois State Parole Review Board Monday at 9:00 AM.

The only way authorities could keep Balfour in custody is if they officially charge him for the Hudson killings between now and Monday, or if they find that he did violate his parole

Thus far, no other suspect has been named in the triple murder of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and nephew.

The cops have the vehicle that Julian was murdered in and the murder weapon, but they don’t have enough evidence to charge Balfour ??? Something smells very badly in the Southside of Chicago !!!

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This video is embarassing and will eventually help to put the nail in the coffin for Balfour. William Balfour, the person of interest in the murders of the Hudson family, will probably be upset when he hears about his mothers words on the Nancy Grace show. Watch Michelle Davis Balfour, William’s mother, get into a shouting match with Grace who is known for touching nerves.

It seems as if the reason police haven’t charged Balfour yet is because there is evidence that there may have been another person involved:

Although Chicago police have only one known suspect in the slayings of three relatives of actress Jennifer Hudson, some evidence suggests that more than one person may have been involved, law-enforcement sources said today.

Investigators have focused on suspect William Balfour’s movements on Friday, the day of the murders, as well as his conflicts with his estranged wife, Julia Hudson, and other members of the family. They are trying to determine whether another person drove Balfour to the West Side after the killings at the Hudsons’ South Side home, sources said.

Witnesses said Balfour drove his teal Chrysler to the Hudsons’ block Friday, arriving about 7 a.m. But later the vehicle was discovered by police parked about a mile away outside Robeson High School. Balfour’s girlfriend told police that he was at her West Side home not long after the slayings of Hudson’s mother, Darnell Donerson, and the Oscar-winning actress’ brother, Jason, at their Englewood home, sources said.

The body of Hudson’s 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, was discovered Monday morning in the back of Jason Hudson’s Chevy Suburban, parked on a West Side street.

Balfour has not been charged in connection with the murders but is held on a parole violation after being arrested and questioned in the case over the weekend.

Security video at the South Side high school showed someone parking the Chrysler on Friday, but investigators have not been able to determine the person’s identity from the images, the sources said. A time stamp on the video showed the car was left there at 12:30 p.m. Friday, but it was unclear whether the stamp was accurate, sources said.

Meanwhile, cell phone records placed Balfour on the West Side at that hour, sources said. If the time stamp is accurate, it would suggest another person may have driven the Chrysler from the Hudson home to Robeson, sources said. In any event, Balfour did not use his own car to travel from the Hudson’s Englewood house to his girlfriend’s home near 19th Street and Spaulding Avenue on the West Side, police said.

As detectives continued searching for answers, the Cook County medical examiner’s office released autopsy results Tuesday showing Julian King died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Also on Tuesday, new details emerged about Balfour’s criminal and personal history.

In June, while on parole for a 1999 attempted murder conviction, Balfour was arrested for possession of cocaine.

According to court records, Balfour was stopped by officers after he got out of a vehicle that had turned a corner at high speed in an area where police were investigating calls of shots fired. Police found drugs in the car Balfour was driving.

The Illinois Department of Corrections was contacted about the new drug charges because he was on parole, but the agency decided not to revoke his parole and return him to prison, according to the records.

The case was dropped on July 16 after Cook County Circuit Judge David Skryd found police had no probable cause to arrest Balfour.

A law-enforcement source said Balfour also had violated his parole by failing to complete required counseling programs for substance abuse and anger management. His case fell through the cracks, the source said.Prisoner Review Board Chairman Jorge Montessaid it is not uncommon for parole violations to go unnoticed.

He said most inmates commit minor violations. Generally, a warrant for arrest on a violation is only issued in cases where a more serious crime or infraction has occurred, Montes said.

Balfour was one of two children born to a mother who worked two jobs to support her family and a father who was serving a 30-year prison sentence for murder.

Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair contributed to this report.

Anyone that would be involved in the murder of a child is despicable. The way that Julian, his grandmother and uncle suffered is unbelievable and I truly believe in an eye for an eye in this situation.

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If police and parole officers had done their job, this tragedy could have been avoided:

Busted for what police said was a rock of cocaine on the driver’s seat of his car, William Balfour could have been spending the past few months behind bars for a parole violation.

The 27-year-old felon was instead allowed to remain free and is now considered a suspect in the deaths of Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew.

On the day the victims were fatally shot and the young boy went missing, Balfour told his parole agent he had missed a meeting because he was baby-sitting, records show.

By midnight, investigators involved in a frantic search for 7-year-old Julian King had contacted parole officials and requested emergency addresses, visitor lists, telephone numbers and “anything further” connected to Balfour, according to documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

No one has been charged in the killings. An Amber Alert issued on Friday named Balfour as a suspect in the deaths of Hudson’s mother, 57-year-old Darnell Donerson, and brother, 29-year-old Jason Hudson. Julian, Balfour’s stepson, was found Monday shot to death in the back of an SUV on Chicago’s West Side.

The Illinois Department of Corrections issued a warrant for Balfour on Saturday for violating terms of his parole by possessing a weapon and failing to attend anger management counseling and a substance abuse program, according to his parole report.

Now that Balfour is in custody, detectives have time to dig deeper into his life, including his relationship with his ex-wife, Jennifer Hudson’s sister Julia, and his exact whereabouts during the weekend.

Balfour was paroled after serving seven years for a 1999 attempted murder and vehicular hijacking conviction.

On June 19, police pulled over Balfour’s car after hearing gunshots in the area, according to the officers’ report. They found a rock of cocaine in plain view on the driver’s seat, the report stated. It had a street value of about $100.

A parole supervisor declined to issue a warrant to revoke Balfour’s parole after the arrest, records show.

“Per supervisor … no warrant,” the report reads. “Agent to monitor offender, impose sanctions.”

Corrections Department spokesman Derek Schnapp said officials who reviewed the cocaine-possession case against Balfour determined “the evidence that was presented during that time wouldn’t have necessarily warranted a violation.”

A judge dismissed the charge for lack of probable cause in July, though no reason was cited in court records.

However, a felony arrest usually is sufficient reason for corrections officials to revoke parole, said Thomas Peters, a Chicago criminal defense attorney who represents parolees.

“Even though the criminal case is dismissed does not mean that you necessarily get a pass on a parole violation because the standard of proof is much less,” he said.

In Balfour’s case, a parole violation could have sent him back to prison for as long as the remainder of his parole - until May 2009 - minus a day off for each day of good behavior. That would have meant a release date in mid-December at the earliest.

Balfour’s parole history also shows that a woman at Balfour’s home refused to open the door during an agent’s visit on Aug. 27. The woman told the agent during the 8:30 a.m. visit that Balfour was at work but Balfour’s boss told the agent he wasn’t due until noon.

“Agent heard other people inside the host site and suspected maybe suspicious activities going on,” the report said. “Agent will be following up for a possible warrant on parolee.”

Parolees must agree to allow agents to visit their homes and consent to searches. There’s no warrant mentioned in following days on the report, which does note, however, that Balfour passed a drug test.

Schnapp said the evidence again wasn’t sufficient to warrant revoking parole.

Jennifer Hudson, who won a best-supporting-actress Oscar last year for “Dreamgirls,” has thanked fans for their support on her MySpace page but has been in seclusion in Chicago.

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