Franklin teen sentenced to life in prison for murders

Jamichael Hudson, 18, was sentenced by 16th Judicial District Judge James McClelland on Monday to spending the rest of his life in jail for his participation in the 2010 murders of two people.
Hudson was convicted on Oct. 18 on two counts of second-degree murder in the killings of a Franklin couple in their home during an apparent robbery attempt. Larry Guillory, 49, and Audrey Picard, 75, were bludgeoned to death on Feb. 3, 2010, at 6 Darce Lane in Franklin.
During the trial images of the victims were shown. Picard’s face was beaten off with nothing left to recognize. The violence of the blows knocked her dentures out of her mouth, smashed her eye sockets and splattered the wall with blood five feet away.
Guillory was struck multiple times on the head. The images shown to the jury revealed two incisions that cut through the skull, one of which exposed brain matter.
Hudson was a 15-year-old minor when the crimes occurred and thus had to have a hearing before sentence could be imposed.
Defense attorney Edward Moses Jr. argued that a life sentence without parole should only “be for the worst individuals in the world, the monsters,” which he said Joseph was not.
McClleland was not swayed. He said he had never seen such a vicious killing in all of his years as a public defender, assistant district attorney and judge.
Hudson’s cousin, Randy Anthony Joseph, 21, was sentenced to life without possibility of parole after pleading guilty in January 2012 to two counts of first-degree murder in the case.
Joseph was assessed with mild retardation and McClelland gave Joseph two life sentences without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.
Moses tried to pin all the blame of the murders on Joseph who had testified it was his intent to kill the two victims. The judge pointed out that Joseph did not testify that he had killed the two alone. Neither attorney chose to ask him that question during his testimony.
McClelland pointed out that Joseph did not rule out his cousin from participating in the murder. Police testimony revealed Joseph had said Hudson took part in the killings. At the trial Joseph said he had given many versions of the story.
Moses tried to pin part of the blame on poor parenting since Hudson was roaming the streets late at night and having discipline problems at the public school and alternative school. He said his client was young, immature and did not appreciate the seriousness of consequences for his actions. He also said that he was influenced into poor choices by his older cousin, Joseph.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony Saleme presented a pre-murder history of Hudson that included a pattern of disrespect for any kind of authority with multiple school suspensions and police arrests. While incarcerated, Hudson has been involved in multiple infractions for fighting, including a second-degree battery incident in which Hudson is alleged to have crushed the face of a victim in the prison with a sock full of soap bars, he said.
Hudson, shackled and dressed in green prison garb, sat sideways in his chair, occasionally looking at the ceiling or walls as he rocked side to side, and continued the same stoic demeanor he showed during his trial with no obvious demonstration of emotion throughout the proceeding.
Saleme said afterward that there were no real winners.
“I don’t take any delight in a young man going to jail,” Saleme said. Two lives were lost and cannot be brought back but the sentence given is what the state calls for, he said.
Moses had argued that Hudson could be rehabilitated.
Saleme would not comment on whether Hudson could be rehabilitated or not, but he remarked that it was significant the convicted man had never expressed remorse nor shown any signs of empathy for the victims even when he saw their images displayed at his trial.