Jennifer Hudson's slain brother Jason Hudson was a drug dealer – that is, if you believe Assistant Public Defender Amy Thompson, who is representing accused killer William Balfour, according to gossip site Radar Online.

William Balfour stands accused of the 2008 murder of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and 7-year-old nephew, in one of the most publicized trials so far this year.

While defending accused killer William Balfour, Thompson posited an alternative scenario in which a business partner of Jason Hudson may have been the real murderer – which of course means that Jason Hudson would have had to be a dealer himself. He was invovled in a dangerous business, Thompson said, and it brought danger to him and he lived in Englewood, probably the most dangerous neighborhood in the city of Chicago.

The neighborhood has had 15 slayings so far this year, according to USA Today, and is a major driver of crime in the city. Last year, USA Today wrote, not only did the number [of murders] jump to 60 from 40 the previous year, but the total number of homicides reported in this rougly 20-by-20 [block] community was more than half as many reported for the entire city of Washington, D.C., and a little less than a third of Houston's total for the year.

The police did nothing to determine if it might have been Jason Hudson's violent business, Thompson told the jury, referring to his alleged drug dealing, that led to him getting shot twice before, that led to these murders. [...] They did nothing to follow the trail other than the weak trail that leads to William Balfour.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Thompson fingered a neighbor of the Hudsons as a potential collaborator in Jason Hudson's alleged drug dealing enterprise.

And it may have been Jennifer Hudson, of all people, who gave jurors a reason to be suspicious about her brother's line of work. As the Sun-Times concluded:

All in all, Jennifer Hudson made an excellent witness. Except at the very end.

That's when defense attorney Edward Koziboski asked her if she knew what her brother did for a living. Hudson looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

I don't really know, she said, not looking like a person telling the truth – and in so doing, gave the jury something else to think about.

Jennifer Hudson also spoke about her concerns about her former brother-in-law William Balfour before the killings took place, saying, None of us wanted her to marry him, referring to her sister Julia's ex-husband as she held back tears.

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