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Man convicted in August South Side murder
The killer faces 19 years to life in prison during sentencing next week.
YOUNGSTOWN — A prosecutor said he’ll call for the maximum sentence of 28 years to life in prison for James A. Hudson Jr., who was found guilty of murder with a firearm specification in the Aug. 13, 2008, slaying of Jajuan Robbins on the city’s South Side.
“This was a heinous crime,” said Michael J. McBride, assistant county prosecutor.
McBride commented after a jury of seven men and five women reached its verdict Friday afternoon after deliberating for 51‚Ñ2 hours at the end of a trial that began April 22. Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court presided over the trial.
Police found the body of Robbins, 20, whose last known address was on Pasadena Avenue, on a bedroom floor at 2803 Cain St. several hours after his death.
Prosecutors said Hudson, 33, of West Ravenwood Avenue, was the doorman at the Cain Street crack house, where he argued with Robbins, pistol-whipped and mutilated him, and used a broken iced-tea bottle to nearly decapitate him.
The coroner said Robbins, who suffered three gunshot wounds to the head, died of multiple gunshot and sharp force injuries. Hudson faces 19 years to life in prison when Judge Curran sentences him at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The sentence would consist of 15 years to life for the murder, plus the mandatory three consecutive years for the gun specification, plus one to 10 consecutive years for a repeat violent offender specification.
The judge found Hudson guilty of the repeat violent-offender specification based on a 1996 aggravated robbery conviction.
Hudson’s DNA was on a broken handgun found near Robbins’ body at the scene, and Robbins’ DNA was on the bloody broken bottle, McBride said.
A key prosecution witness was a prostitute who said she witnessed the slaying through a window while she stood outside the house. “There were some courageous witnesses in this case,” including the prostitute, McBride said, adding that city police conducted an excellent investigation.
The murder charge on which Hudson was found guilty was a lesser included charge within the original charge of aggravated murder. After the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the aggravated robbery charge against Hudson, the judge dismissed it at the prosecution’s request.
The prosecution had earlier dropped an abuse-of-a-corpse charge. McBride said it was because it was determined that the victim was mutilated while still alive; but the defense lawyer, John Jeffrey Limbian, said that dismissal was due to a flaw in the indictment.
Limbian said an appeal will be filed.