MIAMI — A federal judge delayed a decision Wednesday on whether to jail a 16-year-old boy charged as an adult with sexually assaulting and killing his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, saying he first wanted to resolve logistical questions with the U.S. Marshals Service about where the teenager would be held.
Timothy Hudson was initially arrested and charged as a juvenile, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres ruled in February that Hudson could live with an uncle and be electronically monitored. But after the case was transferred to adult court, federal prosecutors asked the judge to take Hudson into custody.
Minors are rarely prosecuted in federal court. The case landed there because the alleged crime occurred in international waters, outside any state’s jurisdiction. Both the charges — sexual assault and killing by mechanical asphyxia — and the venue are uncommon, and the procedural history of the case has drawn national attention through months of pretrial hearings.
The victim, Anna Kepner, is Hudson’s stepsister. Her father, Christopher Kepner, told reporters after the hearing that the family wanted Hudson detained. A prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra Lopez, argued the same in court, saying the transfer to adult court changed the calculus for pretrial release. Hudson’s public defender, Evan Kuhl, opposed detention, according to the Associated Press.
Judge Torres ended the morning hearing without ruling, saying he wanted to speak with the Marshals Service about the feasibility of holding Hudson in a facility in central Florida, closer to his family, rather than in South Florida, where the trial is set to proceed. A decision is expected after that consultation is complete.