MIAMI, Fla. — Timothy Hudson said little as he was escorted out of the federal courthouse in Miami and into a waiting car Wednesday, as a crowd of journalists fired questions at him and his family.
Hudson, 16, waited for weeks to find out if he’d return to Tampa after this hearing or be led from the courtroom in handcuffs. For now, he’ll maintain his freedom.
His trip back to his uncle’s house in Hernando County came after a judge put a decision about Hudson’s custody on hold.
Hudson had been allowed to live with his uncle because he was originally charged as a juvenile for sexually assaulting and murdering his stepsister, Anna Kepner, on a Carnival cruise ship in November.
After prosecutors upgraded the charges to adult, they filed a request to detain him, saying he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
As a juvenile, Hudson would’ve been released without a criminal conviction on his 21st birthday had a judge ruled him responsible for Kepner’s death. As an adult, he faces life in prison if convicted or 24-30 years if he accepts a plea deal.
“The game has changed,” the prosecutor warned, repeatedly comparing the situation to Star Wars vs. Star Trek.
In her argument, the prosecutor laid out new, previously unknown details about the case against Hudson, including the timeline of his and Kepner’s movements aboard the ship.
Kepner had excused herself from dinner, saying she wasn’t feeling well, the prosecutor said. She returned to her cabin that she shared with Hudson and her younger half-brother around 7:30 that night.
Hudson returned to the cabin. At 8:14 p.m., Kepner sent her final message on Snapchat. No activity was reported from her phone or from security cameras in the hall outside their door until 10:13 p.m., when Hudson poked his head out of the room, looked both ways and then left the cabin.
Prosecutors said the half-brother returned to the cabin briefly around 11 p.m. and told investigators he didn’t see Kepner.
An hour later, after Hudson returned to the cabin, he blocked the younger brother from re-entering for two minutes, claiming he was changing, they reported. Again, the brother did not see Kepner.
Prosecutors said no one thought anything of Kepner’s disappearance that night or early the next morning because she tended to stay out late. While Kepner’s boyfriend had warned her father Hudson had a crush on Kepner and was being creepy toward her, they said the adults brushed it off because they thought the stepsiblings were simply close and allowed them to share a cabin to cut down on the cruise’s costs.
The morning after prosecutors say Kepner died, around 9:52 a.m., prosecutors said Hudson was seen crossing the cruise ship. Kepner’s phone, which was connected to the ship’s internet, pinged routers along his route.
They said Hudson spent 22 seconds next to a trash can outside a market on the 10th deck before retracing his steps to his cabin.
Kepner’s phone continued to ping the router next to the trash can.
An eagle-eyed ship employee noticed the phone in a trash collection room and turned it into lost and found, prosecutors said. They credited the employee with giving them an enormous leg up in their case because of the evidence collected in connection to the phone.
Another staff member, a housekeeper, found Kepner’s body around 11:30 a.m. and ran to get a manager.
Prosecutors also said Kepner’s cause of death was a chokehold lasting between three and five minutes, which they said happened shortly after Hudson sexually assaulted her. They said his DNA was collected from her body and she had bruising on her back as if she had been pinned down.
Hudson’s attorneys called their case circumstantial and full of holes. They asked the judge to maintain the status quo, which requires Hudson to be at his uncle’s house and not alone with any juveniles. His uncle must escort him if he needs to leave the house. Prosecutors said Hudson works with his father when he’s not attending virtual school.
Prosecutors’ description of Hudson as a danger to society was because of the severity charges and because the murder, if he committed it, happened without any sort of build-up or other crime preceding it. They also called him a flight risk because of the raised stakes.
The judge wrangled with his decision, noting there was no case similar to Hudson’s that had ever been recorded. Prosecutors said the closest match they could find involved two adults on a cruise ship.
The judge ultimately rejected the description of Hudson as a flight risk, noting that he had been charged as an adult for months and was continuing to comply with his orders, including showing up for his hearings escorted by his father and uncle. It was also noted that Hudson can’t drive and doesn’t have many assets to sustain himself.
However, he reserved judgement on the danger to society aspect of the request, noting that an older defendant would already be in custody if facing the same accusations. While attorneys from both sides said they preferred Hudson be housed in a Miami-area juvenile detention facility, if not with his uncle, the judge indicated he thought that would be bad for Hudson’s mental health.
He instructed US Marshals to check out facilities closer to Hernando County to see if any were suitable for holding Hudson instead. The requirements included no solitary confinement and that he be housed with other juveniles facing adult charges, but who have not been convicted.
If convicted, Hudson will live in one of two state juvenile detention facilities until his 22nd birthday, when he’d be transferred to adult prison.
Hudson is also undergoing mental evaluations. While much of that information has been kept secret aside from a prior ADHD diagnosis and previously disclosed concerns he was a danger to himself as he disembarked from the ship, authorities said a therapist recommended he see a more specialized form of therapist.
Hudson’s trial is currently scheduled for September, though it’s likely going to be pushed back in additional 90-day increments while both sides build their cases.
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