The baby-faced teen accused of sexually assaulting and killing stepsister Anna Kepner on a family cruise revealed his face in public for the first time as he entered a federal courthouse on Wednesday before a judge allowed him to continue to remain free — at least for now.
Miami federal Judge Edwin Torres said Timothy Hudson, 16, can stay out of jail on supervised release until the judge speaks with jail officials about housing the accused killer in central Florida to be closer to his family — rather than hundreds of miles away in South Florida where the case is playing out.
“If it were a 20-year-old under the exact circumstances, I probably would have detained,” Torres explained, according to a report by NBC News. “The presumption would be we were just not going to take that chance.”
“This is a different animal.”
Earlier in the hearing, prosecutor Alejandra López said Hudson should be thrown behind bars until trial, because he’s a “danger to the community” and because there was no guarantee he wouldn’t “act again.”
The prosecutor also noted Hudson was living in a house with two kids and asked what the judge needed to decide whether Hudson was still a danger: “A second dead body?”
But defense attorney Evan Kuhl argued that Hudson hadn’t broken the terms of his bail to date and could be trusted to remain out.
Torres is only allowing Hudson to leave the house under the supervision of his uncle or aunt and would be electronically monitored with a GPS tracker. The judge didn’t say when he would issue his ultimate decision on the issue of bail.
Before the hearing, Hudson kept a straight face as he sauntered into federal court in Miami with his hands in his pockets and wearing a gray, button-down shirt untucked. He also walked out afterward.
He has been out of jail and staying with his paternal uncle since he was charged with Kepner’s murder in February — but prosecutors and Kepner’s outraged father have argued that he should be detained since his case was transferred to adult court.
Hudson has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is scheduled to begin in September, Fox 35 Orlando reported.
Kepner, a bubbly, 18-year-old high school cheerleader, was found dead wrapped in a blanket under her bed while on a Caribbean Carnival Cruise with family members in November in a cabin where she and Hudson had been rooming together on the six-day excursion.
Officials determined that Kepner was strangled and had been sexually assaulted.
Hudson — who was reportedly “obsessed” with Kepner and was once caught trying to sexually assault her — was first charged as a juvenile before his case was moved to adult court, where a grand jury indicted him.
He’s charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse and faces life in prison if convicted.
Hudson “committed these crimes against a victim with whom he had no apparent relational strife, and whom he was being raised to view as a sibling,” López previously said in a court filing.
“Furthermore, he carried out these crimes without any warning he could commit such atrocious acts, and despite an apparent supportive family environment.”
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