Jennifer Hudson Family Murder Trial: Judge releases tape of Julia Hudson's 911 call

(CBS/WBBM/AP) CHICAGO - A Chicago judge on Monday agreed to release a 911 tape played for jurors last week in the trial of William Balfour, who is accused of killing Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew.

According to CBS Chicago, Criminal Court Judge Charles Burns decided to release the 911 tape following an emergency motion by several media outlets. 

Although prosecutors tried to bar the tape's release because of the sensitive nature of the case and because the jury has not begun deliberating, Burns said there was no evidence that Balfour's due process rights would be prejudiced by releasing the tape of the 911 call.

Prosecutors last week played the recording of the 911 call Julia Hudson, Jennifer Hudson's sister, made after discovering their mother's bloodied body.

"Oh my God.... Somebody's killed my mother," Julia Hudson says, while a dispatcher tries to get her to calm down and repeat her address. "She's on the floor and I see blood coming from her head."

Hudson can be heard wondering aloud, "Where my brother at? What happened?"

She also cries in panic that she doesn't know the location of her son, 7-year-old Julian.

"I don't know where Julian is or nothing and I'm here by myself," she says. She tells the dispatcher she "just got home from work" and "there's a bullet hole in our front door."

Balfour has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the October 2008 killings.

Prosecutors say Balfour killed the Hudson family members in a jealous rage because he believed Julia Hudson, his estranged wife, was cheating on him. Defense attorneys claim he had nothing to do with the murders.

Complete coverage of the Hudson family murders on Crimesider