Outburst Precedes 60-Year Sentence for Client Who Kidnapped his Lawyer
A client who kidnapped his lawyer at knifepoint was sentenced to 60 years in prison yesterday following a profanity-laced outburst.
The client, Richard Hudson, wasn’t in the central Indiana courtroom for the sentence, according to the Anderson, Ind., Herald Bulletin. He was led away after he yelled at his victim, lawyer Thomas Hamer, and demanded to leave, the story says.
Hudson pleaded guilty but mentally ill in December to charges of kidnapping and robbery. His tirade yesterday began after he spotted Hamer in the courtroom. The Herald Bulletin reports Hudson yelled: “You can stare at me all you want. I’m going to bust your (expletive) brains! (Expletive) it!”
Then Hudson began barking orders to the judge, according to the account. “I asked you to sentence me to 50 (expletive) years,” he said. “Now do it!” Next he asked to be taken from the courtroom, according to the newspaper. “I’m not asking you, I’m telling you!”
Prosecutors say Hudson held a knife to the lawyer’s throat last July as the two were returning from a hearing on Social Security disability benefits in Indianapolis. Hudson tied up Hamer before dumping him in a nature preserve.
The incident occurred as Hamer was driving Hudson back to the Anderson, Ind., jail where the client was being held on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge.
