William Balfour — the man convicted of murdering the mother, brother and nephew of R&B singer Jennifer Hudson — will spend the rest of his life behind bars after an Illinois judge sentenced him to THREE CONSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENCES in prison.
Balfour, Hudson’s former brother in law, was convicted on May 11th of 1st degree murder in the tragic shooting deaths of Jennifer’s mother Darnell Donerson, her brother Jason Hudson, and her 7-year-old nephew Julian King in October 2008. He was also convicted of home invasion and residential burglary.
Jennifer Hudson was present in the courtroom for Balfour’s sentencing. During the hearing, Judge Charles Burns looked Balfour in the eyes, and told him, “Your soul is as barren as dark space.”
Balfour, who reportedly looked on without expression as Burns read the sentence, made a brief statement to the courtroom.
“My condolences go out to the family,” Balfour said, with Jennifer Hudson and other members of her family were present in the courtroom. “My deepest sympathies go to Julian King. I loved him. I still love him.”
At the time of the murders, Balfour was estranged from Jennifer Hudson’s sister Julia, who was Julian’s mother.
Prosecutors believed Balfour shot and killed the family members — and kidnapped and also murdered Julian — in a jealous rage because he thought Julia had received a gift from her new boyfriend.
Unsurprisingly, the judge was NOT impressed with Balfour’s statement to the court.
“The fact that you can stand in court and tell us you love that child is an insult to all of us,” Judge Burns said. “There’s no doubt in my mind he looked up to you as you were putting bullets into his head,” Burns added, with his voice shaking. “I just hope his terror was short-lived.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, Judge Burns added 120 years onto the three consecutive life sentences for the additional felonies of home invasion and aggravated kidnapping.
Unfortunately for Balfour, Illinois does not have the death penalty … which would have most definitely been a less harsh punishment than what he got.
