A state parole board member resigned Monday after recommending the release of a man who a day later attacked a pregnant Chicago woman with a knife and fatally stabbed her 11-year-old son as he tried to protect her, according to the release. authorities.
The Illinois Prisoner Review Board’s consideration of the case prompted Governor JB Pritzker to order that procedures for handling situations involving domestic violence be revamped.
Pritzker announced that LeAnn Miller, 63, of Junction had resigned.
It was Miller who had prepared a report recommending Crosetti Brand’s release from prison. She served on the board since September 2021 after working for 20 years with the Illinois Department of Corrections and 35 years in education at School District 428.
The 37-year-old felon had repeatedly violated protective orders and threatened Laterria Smith of Chicago, police said.
11-year-old Jayden Perkins was stabbed to death while trying to protect his pregnant mother
Crosetti Brand, 37, had been paroled just one day before the deadly attack. He is back in jail charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said Miller “made the right decision by resigning” from the Illinois Prisoner Review Board
On March 13, investigators said Brand went to Smith’s apartment armed with a knife and attacked her.
When her son, Jayden Perkins, intervened, Brand stabbed him to death, police said.
Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling said Brand had been released on parole just one day before the attack.
Smith, 33, remains in critical condition in hospital, but doctors expect her and her unborn child to be alive.
Her six-year-old son was also present during the attack but was unharmed.
A message was left seeking comment on a number associated with Miller’s home and the Prisoner Review Board.
Pritzker said in a news release that she “made the right decision by resigning.”
“It is clear that this case did not receive the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve, and I am committed to ensuring that additional safeguards and training are in place to prevent tragedies like this from happening again,” Pritzker said in a statement.
Jayden Perkins, 11, was stabbed to death after he intervened to protect his mother
Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling said Brand was released on parole the day before he carried out the attack
A photo of Jayden Perkins, an 11-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in his home, seen at a memorial outside Perkins’ home in Chicago
After the board proceeding, two other board members, Ken Tupy and Krystal Tison, agreed with Miller’s draft order.
Pritzker directed the Prisoner Review Board to “engage experts and advocates to design and implement comprehensive training” in domestic violence cases for the 15-member board.
The board and the Department of Corrections will also review procedures for sharing information about domestic violence cases. Pritzker said the case could also raise issues requiring legislation to increase officials’ legal authority in such cases.
Brand, who police say dated Smith 20 years ago, is charged in Cook County with first-degree murder and a half-dozen other violent crimes in connection with the attack.
Smith had obtained a protective order against the suspect 15 years before this month’s attack because he had repeatedly threatened and assaulted her and her mother in an unrelated case.
His abuse began in September 2006 after Smith broke up with the suspect. Brand came to her house and threatened her with a gun, which he fired in the hallway before leaving.
Alicia Perkins, center, an aunt of Jayden Perkins’ father, holds balloons outside Perkins’ home in Chicago at a memorial for Jayden, who was murdered
Neighbors hugged each other earlier this month as they mourned the death of Jayden Perkins
Officers seen outside the family’s apartment complex earlier this month are investigating the crime scene
Brand continued to harass the family, throwing rocks at their window and calling them obsessively. Two years after the breakup, he allegedly hit the mother at a bus stop because she was dating someone else.
He had served half of a 16-year prison sentence for assaulting another ex-partner in 2015 when he was released on parole last October.
Brand was returned to jail in February after being accused of having repeated contact with Smith, who has a protective order against him.
He turned himself in after Smith reported that he stood at her apartment door on Feb. 1, repeatedly ringing the doorbell and pulling the handle.
But when Brand appeared before the Prisoner Review Board on Feb. 26, he denied going to her apartment and his attorney presented evidence that his electronic monitoring bracelet did not indicate violations of his movement restrictions, according to a copy of the board’s order.
He responded to other reported parole violations by saying he sometimes worked late into the night at a Red Lobster restaurant.
The board determined there was not enough evidence to verify Smith’s claims, even though she was not called to testify.
In addition to murder, Brand has also been charged with three counts of residential burglary with a dangerous weapon, one count of armed robbery with a dangerous weapon, one count of aggravated domestic battery, one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, one count of violation of one previous protective order and one count of parole.
The attack took place in this apartment complex earlier this month
‘No one can replace him. No one can take his place,” said Perkins’ friend Alexis Perez.
A fundraiser has been held to support Perkins’ family during this time
Neighbors held a vigil for 11-year-old Perkins outside the apartment complex days after the March 13 attack.
‘No one can replace him. No one can take his place,” Perkins’ friend Alexis Perez told the local ABC affiliate WLS.’
“He’s the kindest, most trustworthy friend you could probably ever ask for,” Perkins’ friend Nathaniel Vodak, 12, told WLS.
a fundraising was done to support the victim’s family and has raised over $27,000.