Prosecutor: Many threats before Hudson killings

A prosecutor says the man accused of killing Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew had threatened to kill members of the family at least two dozen times before the October 2008 slayings.

In a court hearing Friday, Assistant State’s Attorney James McKay says the threats began in February of that year. That’s when James Balfour moved out of the family’s house, where he had been living with his wife, Hudson’s sister Julia.

McKay says the last of the threats came the same day the bodies were found, on Oct. 24, 2008.

He says Julia Hudson let her estranged husband into the home and he became enraged when he saw balloons that a new boyfriend had given her.