Home Invasion Leads To Murder Attempt, Sexual Assault Conviction

WAUKEGAN, IL — A Zion man has been convicted of stabbing a man more than 20 times and sexually assaulting a woman during a home invasion nearly four years ago.

D'Javon Hudson, 27, was found guilty Thursday in a bench trial of attempted murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and violation of an order of protection in connection with an incident on Sept. 21, 2017.

Early that morning, police got a call of a stabbing in the 2700 block of Galilee Avenue and arrived to find a man who had been stabbed in his neck, chest and abdomen and a woman who had been sexually assaulted, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said Hudson, who knew the woman, got into the apartment through an open window and begun attacking the man as he slept. After being rushed to a hospital in critical condition, the man survived and testified against Hudson at trial.

Hudson was arrested inside the apartment, hiding above a closet. Prosecutors said officers also found the knife used in the murder attempt.

Hudson has been held at Lake County Jail in lieu of the $300,000 cash portion of his bail ever since his arrest. In hearings and motions before Lake County Circuit Judge Mark Levitt, he has sought to represent himself under the name Xeuxsai-Ali.

In a handwritten motion, Hudson identified himself as, "The Administrator; Xeuxsai-Ali, in a beneficiary capacity related to DJAVON A. HUDSON (the Estate)"

In January 2018, Levitt ruled that "Mr. Ali" could not represent himself after the defendant announced "I invoke republic law" on the grounds that Illinois instead adopted the "common law of England," the Lake County News-Sun reported at the time.

But a few months later, the judge relented and granted Hudson's requests to represent himself.

Hudson later elected to waive his right to a jury trial, and a bench trial before Levitt began in May.

"[T]he evidence was not close on any count," Levitt said as he handed down the guilty verdict Thursday, according to the state's attorney's office.

Prosecutors initially indicted Hudson on 21 counts, but dropped seven of them last month amid the trial, which began in May, according to court records.

Four of the counts on which he was convicted are class X felonies, which carry mandatory minimum sentences of six to 30 years in state prison. Hudson is due to be sentenced Aug. 17.

"The events of that terrible night in 2017 finally ended in a just verdict today,” Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement after the ruling, commending the bravery of the survivors of the attack and the work of his staff in securing Hudson's conviction. "We continue to provide support to the survivors in this case, and we will seek a very lengthy prison sentence for the offender."