An Indiana jury has convicted an 80-year-old man of felony battery for punching a police officer who stopped him from approaching kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart with a knife at a January book signing.
The (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star reports jurors took less than an hour Wednesday to find Claude Hudson guilty. He faces a habitual offender enhancement because of prior convictions. He could serve up to six years in prison for battery, plus up to six years if found to be a habitual offender.
Hudson said in court that he wanted to ask Smart questions so he tried to skip ahead of the book signing line at Indiana State University in Terre Haute.
Smart was 14 in 2002 when snatched from her Salt Lake City bedroom and held for nine months.