A judge was stunned when a man who killed his girlfriend and his young son started laughing in court, asking: “You find this funny?”

A killer dad left a US courtroom stunned as he pleaded guilty to murdering his 11-year-old son and girlfriend with a huge smile on his face.

David Huff, 43, smirked in court as he confessed to shooting his girlfriend, Yeraldith Tschudy, 32, and his son. young Jeremiah Huff, inside his stepfather’s home in Syracuse, a city in New York State, in March 2025.

Huff “cracked a fiendish smile and even chuckled” as Judge Ted Limpert read the charges against him, local media reported.

“You find this funny?” the judge asked him, according to a report by the New York Post.

Huff then blamed his unexpected display on having “a joke stuck in my head”.

Photographs taken in court captured the moment Huff was seen visibly grinning as he faced the judge in his brown and white prison scrubs.

David Huff, 43, smirked in court as he admitted killing his 11-year-old son and his girlfriend in March 2025. Picture: YouTube/Syracuse.com
During the proceedings, the dad denied allegations he had shot his son in the face, but otherwise admitted to both killings, 13 ABC reports.

“I’m guilty of all that,” Huff said. “Whatever you guys say, I’m guilty of.”

Huff’s older son, who was not present the night of the murders, also reportedly shouted to his father in the courtroom that he was embarrassing himself.

Assistant District Attorney Rob Moran said he was not concerned with Huff’s behaviour in court.

“I’m focused on the family. I’m focused on Jeremiah. I’m focused on Ms Tschudy. I could (not) care less what his reaction to any of this is,” Moran said, the publication added.

“I don’t have enough bandwidth to put any time into worrying about his reaction to these things.”

Huff’s conviction comes after months of the defence waiting for a medical expert to evaluate his mental health.

Huff’s defence lawyer, Shaun Chase, finally conceded that multiple experts concluded any mental incapacity was due to his voluntary abuse of booze or drugs.

Jeremiah’s mum was the person who alerted police after receiving a disturbing call on the night of the attacks. Picture: 13 Wham
He was found competent to stand trial and opted to plead guilty to the second-degree charges rather than first-degree murder.

This means he may have a chance at parole when he’s sentenced. Parole can be granted on second-degree murder convictions in the US state, often after serving a set number of years before being eligible to be considered by the Board of Parole.

It’s not clear which substances, if any, Huff was using or his level of intoxication on the night of the murders, prosecutors said.

Both Tschudy and his son were killed using a 12-gauge shotgun. Huff’s stepfather was also fired at, investigators said.

Jeremiah’s mother, Samantha Gallup Peltier, was the first to call emergency services after she received a disturbing call from her son just before the killings.

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Huff fled before police arrived, but was arrested by state police around 9:30 a.m. the next day.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

“He loved to snuggle on the couch and have a cup of coffee in the morning,” Peltier said. “He loved every animal, being outside and nature. And he loved his father,” Ms Peltier told Syracuse.com after his death.