The world was shocked when news broke in 2008 that Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson's mother, older brother, and young nephew were found murdered in Chicago. Now, a judge on Thursday ordered the man charged with the slayings to stand trial in April 2012. Despite the objections of William Balfour's attorney, who says she is still building her case, Cook County Judge William Charles Burns overruled the motion, and set a date.

Jury selection is to begin on April 9 and testimony to begin April 23. As a deputy public defender, Amy Thompson said that despite working 12-to-14 hours a day shifts trying to prepare, she could not answer that she was ready for trial. Prosecutors allege that Balfour, using a gun he stole from Jason Hudson, shot the three in a jealous rage because he believed that Julia Hudson had been dating another man.

The then-27-year-old is accused of shooting Darnell Donnerson and Jason Hudson, and the grabbing Julia Hudson's 7-year-old son, Julian King, and shooting him inside Jason's SUV. The boy's body was found three days later in the vehicle on the city's West Side. The heinous crime crippled the Chicago community, angered the nation, and devastated the talented songstress.