Bristow’s Chad Alan Hudgins Sentenced for Second-Degree Murder

U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell dropped the hammer on Chad Alan Hudgins today, slapping the 35-year-old Bristow man with a 360-month sentence for the cold-blooded murder of Britney Smith in Indian Country.

The grim tale began in December 2021 when the Creek County Sheriff’s Office responded to a well-being check request at Smith’s residence. They discovered a trail of blood leading to the lifeless body of the victim, Britney Smith. It was soon uncovered that Hudgins, Smith’s beau, had been arguing with her and subsequently pulled the trigger.

According to court documents, Hudgins sought refuge in Kansas, but his luck ran out when he was nabbed with a loaded 9mm pistol. The Creek County Sheriff’s Office and the Muscogee Creek Nation Lighthorse Police were instrumental in bringing him to justice.

Hudgins will spend the next three decades behind bars before being transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. In addition to his prison sentence, Judge Frizzell ordered five years of supervised release for this heinous act.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric O. Johnston and Julie Childress were at the forefront of prosecution in this case. They are part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a Department of Justice initiative aimed at reducing violent crime and making neighborhoods safer.

Britney Smith, a tribal citizen, will never see justice served by those who knew her. But Hudgins’s sentence serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of violence in our communities. For more information on PSN, visit Justice.gov/PSN.