SEATTLE – A North Bend man accused of breaking into a woman’s home and raping her as she slept next to her husband last July pleaded guilty Nov. 5 to charges of second-degree rape and first-degree burglary.
Michael Hudson, only 18 at the time of the crimes, was sentenced to 95 to 125 months (less than 10 years) in prison. Dan Donohoe, spokesperson for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, said 110 months will be recommended.
Hudson’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3 at the King County Superior Court with Judge Robert Alsdorf presiding.
According to documents released by the King County Prosecutor’s Office, the North Bend woman and her husband went to bed on the night of July 29 at about 11:30 p.m. The woman awoke at about 2 a.m. the following morning and felt someone touching her. After realizing it was not her husband, the woman looked to see a man at the foot of her bed. Once she looked at the man, he pulled his hand away and the woman screamed, waking her husband. The man fled out a bedroom window and the woman and her husband called police. When the woman was asked by her husband what the man looked like, she described someone they knew from high school but had not seen in many years.
When King County deputies arrived at the home, they found a lawn chair that had been moved under the open bedroom window, as well as a watch and a pair of shoes near the chair. Inside the room, they also found a baseball hat. None of the items left behind belonged to the couple and detectives were also able to take prints from the lawn chair.
Hudson was finally arrested Aug. 18 after being tracked by the belongings he had left behind and DNA samples donated by his family who also supplied information on his whereabouts.
On Aug. 18, a deputy located Hudson camping a half mile off Boalch Avenue. Hudson was arrested for investigation of the assault and was brought before the victim two days later in a suspect line-up. Within seconds of his coming into the room, the victim picked Hudson out of the line-up and identified him as the man who raped her. Hudson gave a DNA sample, which the Washington State Patrol compared with evidence taken at the crime scene.
