William Balfour Allegedly Threatened To Kill Jennifer Hudson’s Family In Front Of Teenage Girl
May 1 2012, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
By Debbie Emery - RadarOnline.com Reporter
The man accused of killing Jennifer Hudson’s family was far from discreet in the months leading up to the murders, and even allegedly spilled his deadly desires to a 13-year-old stranger in a park.
The Chicago courtroom heard on Tuesday how William Balfour randomly approached teenager Maria Wilkes in the South Side park in the summer of 2008 and began pouring his heart out to her about his crumbling marriage and how he suspected wife, Julia Hudson, was cheating on him.
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 Julia's son Julian King, 7, in October 2008.
Just a few days after their first meeting, Wilkes bumped into Balfour again when he was in the middle of a domestic spat with Julia that soon turned sinister and threatening.
“I heard him tell her if she were to call the police he would kill her and her family,” Wilkes testified in the seventh day of Balfour’s trial, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.
The teenager wasn’t the first witness to suggest that the triple-murder was premedited, as RadarOnline.com previously reported last week family friend Robbin Myers told the court that Balfour turned up at his son’s birthday party with a gun and told him, “If I find out that she (Julia) is cheating on me, I’m f***ing her and him up.”
While the testimony is clearly centered around Balfour, the media spotlight has been on his Oscar-winnig sister-in-law, but despite the courtroom rules being bent for her, judge's liaison Irv Miller denied that Jennifer Hudson is getting star treatment.
The Dreamgirls star arrives at the courtroom everyday with her personal bodyguards using a private entrance to avoid photographers, reported CBSNews.com.
Instead of piling into the cafeteria to eat with the rest of the court attendees, she eats in private and waits for proceedings to start in the normally off-limits judge's chambers.
Miller said some courtesies are routinely extended to victims having to endure the grim ordeal of sitting through a murder trial, and other measures just naturally have to be taken due to her fame factor.
“Star status means things have to be a little different," he explained. "You just can't have a celebrity walking about, going to the cafeteria - people running up to ask for autographs."
Balfour has pleaded not guilty to the triple murder. If convicted of at least two of the murder counts, the 30-year-old, on parole at the time of the killings after serving nearly seven years for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking, would face a mandatory life sentence.
Stay with RadarOnline.com as the trial continues…
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