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The baby-faced teen accused of killing his cheerleader stepsister on a family cruise last year is has been offered a plea deal — and is apparently considering taking it.
The trial of Timothy Hudson, 16, has been postponed after he allegedly sexually assaulted and strangled his 18-year-old stepsister Anna Kepner on a Carnival Horizon cruise ship during a six-day trip in the Caribbean.
Hudson’s lawyers indicated in a letter to a Miami judge last week that they were seeking to push off the trial again while one issue remained open that would help them choose whether to cop a plea or face a jury, the court papers said.
Although Hudson’s attorneys “have made progress towards attaining their goals, one pending issue still needs to be addressed before a final decision can be made concerning whether T.H. should plea or proceed to trial,” his lawyers wrote in the Oct. 13, letter.
Even though Hudson is being tried as an adult, he is only being referred to in court papers by his initials because he’s a minor.
Prosecutors agreed to the postponement and were aware of “the nature of this issue,” the letter said. The papers did not further specify what the “issue” was.
Federal Judge Beth Bloom issued an order Thursday approving the request to move the Nov. 2, trial to January. The trial, which is now set for Jan. 25, has already been pushed off two times before.
Bloom further ruled that any potential plea deal needed to be entered by Jan. 15.
Hudson faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder but he could receive a far lighter sentence if he pleaded guilty in the case.
Kepner’s body was discovered by a maid of the cruise ship on Nov. 7, 2025, stashed under her bed inside the cabin she was sharing with Hudson and her 13-year-old brother, prosecutors alleged.
Hudson, who was said to have been obsessed with Kepner, killed her with a bar hold around her neck — all while her little brother slept in the bed mere feet away, the feds claimed.
Kepner had been months away from graduating from Temple Christian School in Titusville. She was a straight-A student who wanted to join the military, her family said.
A rep with the Miami US Attorney’s Office declined to comment. Hudson’s lawyers didn’t immediately return a request for comment.