BREAKING NEWS: Guilty! Jennifer Hudson's brother-in-law of murdering her mother, brother, and nephew, 7

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A Chicago jury has convicted Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law of murdering her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew in what prosecutors described as an act of vengeance by a jilted husband.

The jury convicted 31-year-old William Balfour on three-counts of first degree murder on Friday, after three days of deliberations. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors had to build an overwhelming circumstantial case tying Balfour to the killings because there were no surviving witnesses. Defense attorneys claimed the killings could have been related to Hudson's brother's alleged drug dealing.

Hudson was the first witness called to the stand and she attended every day of testimony.

Defence: Amy Thompson, second from right, defense attorney for William Balfour, and her team return from hearing a question from the jury during deliberations at Cook County Criminal Court today

Weeping: A courtroom sketch shows Jennifer Hudson and sister Julia reacting to the closing arguments in court earlier this week

Balfour would face a mandatory life prison sentence if convicted on all counts.
Prosecutors say he killed the three victims in a jealous rage after his then-estranged wife, Hudson's sister Julia Hudson, refused to reconcile with him.

Defense attorneys argued the evidence tying Balfour to the October 2008 killings is circumstantial.
The announcement about the verdict came after jurors sent the judge a note saying they were split on the verdict. The jury did not say it was giving up, though.
'We are trying,' jurors said in their note.



Serious charge: William Belfour faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of all counts of murder

With no surviving witnesses to the Oct. 24, 2008, slayings, prosecutors built a circumstantial case against Balfour by calling 83 witnesses over 11 days of testimony.

Witnesses said he threatened to kill the entire family if Julia Hudson spurned him.
Balfour's attorneys proposed an alternate theory: that someone else in the crime-ridden neighborhood on Chicago's South Side targeted the family because of alleged crack-cocaine dealing by Jennifer Hudson's brother, Jason Hudson.

During the 30 minutes in which they called just two witnesses, however, they presented no evidence to support that theory.

The killings occurred the morning after Julia Hudson's birthday, and prosecutors said he became enraged when he stopped by the home and saw a gift of balloons in the house from her new boyfriend.



Setting: The drama unfolded at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building in Chicago, where the murder trial of William Balfour, accused in the killings of singer and actress Jennifer Hudson's three family members was being tried

Strong face: Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson has kept a bright outlook during the trial and was seen at The Pan African Film & Arts Festival in February

After his estranged wife left for her job as a bus driver on the morning of Oct. 24, 2008, prosecutors say Balfour went back inside the home with a .45-caliber handgun and shot Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, in the back; he allegedly then shot Jason Hudson, 29, twice in the head as he lay in bed.

Prosecutors say Balfour then drove off in Jason Hudson's SUV with Julia's son, Julian King, and shot the boy several times in the head as he lay behind a front seat.
His body was found in the abandoned vehicle miles away after a three-day search.



In memoriam: Jennifer Hudson, left, is seen pictured with her murdered mom, centre, and sister Julia. It is captioned: 'my lovely mother, beautiful sister juli.



Culled from The Daily Mail UK.

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Simply Cheska