Man Who Killed Jennifer Hudson’s Family Speaks

The man found guilty of killing Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson’s mom, brother and 7-year-old nephew claimed he is innocent more than seven years after the slayings and said his conviction was the result of a grand police-concocted “conspiracy.”

Balfour was sentenced in 2012 to life in prison without parole for the October 24, 2008 shooting deaths of Hudson’s 57-year-old mother, Darnell Donerson, her 29-year-old brother, Jason Hudson, and her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King. The adults were found dead inside their Chicago home, while Julian’s body was found in a car Balfour had stolen.

Prosecutors said Balfour — who was married to but estranged from Hudson’s older sister, Julia Hudson at the time of the killings — was a jealous man who stalked his wife’s family after she moved out in early 2008. He was on parole for an attempted 1992 murder when he was arrested.

During the murder trial, Julia Hudson testified that Balfour — a career criminal previously convicted on gang, drug and carjacking charges — threatened to kill her multiple times, a claim Balfour rejected in his first-ever interview. Witnesses said they say Balfour carrying a distinctive black-and-silver pistol on the day of the shootings — the exact same kind police would later determine were used in the murders. Balfour claimed those people were lying.