Defense Rests In Jennifer Hudson Family Murder Trial

May 8 2012, Published 2:00 p.m. ET

By Debbie Emery - RadarOnline.com Reporter

After two weeks of harrowing and often shocking testimony, the defense rested their case Tuesday in the triple murder trial of William Balfour, the man accused of killing Jennifer Hudson’s family.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Balfour faces three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and home invasion in the deaths of Jennifer’s mother Darnell Hudson Donerson, 57; brother Jason Hudson, 29; and nephew Julian King, 7, in October 2008.

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Dreamgirls star Hudson was one of the first to testify and since then she has spent every day quietly sitting in the courtroom on a fourth-row bench watching the legal wrangling unfold.

Jurors in the dramatic trial have heard the recollections of 83 witnesses since they took their seats on April 23, the last of whom was a Chicago police detective, Chester Bach, who testified that one of the keys that was found in Balfour’s pocket when he was arrested fit the stolen sport-utility vehicle owned by the Oscar winner’s murdered brother, reported the Chicago Sun Times.

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The court was also shown heartbreaking pictures of Hudson's nephew Julian in the SUV where his body was found covered with a shower curtain after being shot in the head, but the images were too much for Jennifer and sister Julia Hudson, who left the room.

During Monday’s proceedings a videotaped interview was played in which Balfour told detectives Jason had a lot of “enemies” and that the Hudson family home in Englewood where the killings took place was “a drug house.”