PHILADELPHIA – The Harris County District Attorney’s office says it’s done its part to make things right, but tonight Julie Hudson’s family says they’re only interested in hearing that their innocent loved one has been released from jail, and so far that hasn’t happened yet.
“Well I thought I was going to rest today, I thought I was going to be able to say my sister [is] home,” said Charon Hudson, Julie’s sister.
Instead, it has now been one week that Julie Hudson, a P.h.D student from Philadelphia has been sitting behind bars for a robbery she was mistakenly accused of in Webster, Texas. This after police said social media photos of Julie looked like the suspect.
“Even went and got balloons and was ready to be picking Julie up today. That’s what we thought was going to take place,” Charon said.
After realizing the error, yesterday Webster police say an officer explained the situation to the Harris County District Attorney’s office which filed a motion to have the charges against Julie dropped, but Julie’s sister says it appears the memo never got to authorities in Philadelphia.
“Prison starts answering the phone at 8:30. [At] 8:30, we called and they said they had not gotten the paperwork and then we’re like ok the nightmare started again. So at that point, we started calling around,” Charon added.
Not only did KPRC 2 follow up, but so did the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia which was told by the DA’s office there that the case isn’t in their jurisdiction because the charges were dropped.
The Harris County DA’s office sent the following statement:
“We accept charges based on the sworn evidence presented to us by law enforcement. Tuesday Webster Police notified the court of the error. We dismissed the case within five minutes and immediately contacted Philadelphia Police to release our hold on Ms. Hudson.”
On Wednesday, a representative from the Philadelphia Police Department said he wasn’t aware of the issue and forwarded the inquiry to the public affairs division which says, “We have been looking into this matter and are currently doing so. As soon as I receive an update, I will let you know.”
Meanwhile Assistant Chief of the Webster Police Department, Jeremy Edge says he’s also spent hours on Wednesday making calls to try and get Hudson released, but by the time he got through to the proper person, it was too late for Julie to see a judge who could release her that night.
“But that’s the thing, he did it today. The charges were dropped yesterday. Phone calls should have happened yesterday,” Charon said.
Edge says he can confirm that Julie Hudson does have a hearing in the morning in which he expects her to be released.
When asked if the officer who mixed her up with the suspect could be reprimanded, he says they’re conducting an internal investigation to try to determine that, but right now it’s too early to tell.
Just before 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Philadelphia Police Department released the following statement.
“The Philadelphia Police Department is currently in communication with the Webster, Texas, Police Department. Ms. Hudson has been in custody since 1/05/22 in Philadelphia on charges of FOJ based off of an active arrest warrant out of Webster, Texas. PPD became aware of the warrant being dismissed on 1/11/23 at approximately 5 p.m. after receiving a media inquiry. At that time, we immediately requested that Ms. Hudson be released from custody and are actively working with the Philadelphia Department of Prisons to process her release in as expeditious a manner as possible. In addition, the PPD has opened an investigation into when communication was sent from the issuing jurisdiction stating that charges were dismissed.”
Charon Hudson now says the media has helped to get the process expedited and her sister should be released by 2 a.m. ET on Thursday.
