BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The attorney for Timothy Hudson, the stepbrother of 18-year-old Anna Kepner, waived his appearance in federal court earlier today.
Hudson is facing charges of murder and aggravated sexual abuse in connection to Kepner’s death aboard the Carnival Horizon last November.
Hudson’s attorney entered a not guilty plea earlier this week. In Miami court today, the attorney left without comment and without Hudson by his side.
Hudson remains on release under previously set conditions, but that could change.
“Certainly, he’s out now because he’s under the conditions that were initially imposed,” said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer. “The question now is, are they going to revoke those conditions and reimpose other conditions.”
For now, that answer is unknown.
Sheaffer says prosecutors may face an uphill battle if they try to convince a judge that Hudson should be detained before trial. “As far as I know from the evidence at hand, no evidentiary matters have changed,” he said.
Hudson’s attorneys are pushing back against the government’s effort to revisit his release, arguing he has followed all conditions so far. They are now asking the court for a formal hearing to decide what happens next.
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