Philando Hudson, 24, sentenced for slaying over parking space

The Lucas County Courthouse

BLADE

It began with an argument over a parking space, and, two months later, Philando Hudson ended it with six gunshots that killed Effram Smith, Jr.

Hudson, 24, of the 4000 block of Wetzler Road was sentenced Wednesday by Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Myron Duhart to an agreed-upon term of 14 years in prison.

The Lucas County Courthouse

Mr. Smith, 26, of Toledo was shot Jan. 2 inside a car when Hudson pulled up alongside him at Berdan Avenue and Jeep Parkway and fired six times. Mr. Smith died Jan. 18.

“Essentially, at the end of the day, when you peel it down, it is about nothing,” Judge Duhart told Hudson. “When it gets that bad on the street and in society where someone you feel disrespected you or you feel slighted, there’s no other option except taking someone’s life, that’s pathetic, pitiful.”

Hudson had been charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, and discharge of a firearm over a public road, but he entered an Alford plea — not admitting guilt — to an amended charge of involuntary manslaughter and discharge of a firearm over a road, both with firearm specifications.

Matthew Simko, an assistant county prosecutor, told the court at the time of Hudson’s plea on July 19 that an eyewitness — the woman who was driving the car for Mr. Smith — died from unrelated causes after Hudson’s indictment.

Philando Hudson entered an Alford plea to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Mr. Simko credited Toledo police Detective Robert Schroeder with keeping the case alive by developing other witnesses and working the investigation.

Mr. Smith’s mother, Ann Kelley, told the court in a statement read by victim’s advocate Vera Sanders that she could not understand why Hudson would shoot her son over a parking spot.

“My son, E.Z., didn’t deserve to be hunted down like an animal and then shot in front of his 10-year-old stepdaughter and girlfriend,” she said. “Knowing they were in the car, he was just heartless.”

Judge Duhart agreed.

“I’m troubled by the fact that someone’s life was taken, and I understand things happen in the street,” he said. “I get that, but this was in front of loved ones. So you have affected and will affect lives for generations.”

Contact Jennifer Feehan at jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.