Killer gets 24 years to life in prison

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — A man who was convicted by a jury last week of shooting and nearly decapitating another man last August on the city’s South Side has been sentenced to 24 years to life in prison.

James A. Hudson Jr., 33, of West Ravenwood Avenue, drew the sentence Thursday from Judge Thomas P. Curran for the murder of Jajuan Robbins.

The visiting Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge sentenced Hudson to 15 years to life for the murder, three consecutive years for the firearm specification and six consecutive years for a repeat-violent-offender specification.

Prosecutors said Hudson was the doorman at a 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.

Police found the body of Robbins, 20, whose last known address was on Pasadena Avenue, on a bedroom floor several hours after he was killed Aug. 13, 2008.

The coroner said Robbins suffered three gunshot wounds to the head and died of gunshot and sharp-force injuries.

The repeat-violent-offender specification stems from Hudson’s 1996 aggravated robbery conviction.