Jayden Perkins murder exposes how the system leaves domestic violence victims, families vulnerable
Laterria Smith speaks out about court system failures that led to her son's murder
Laterria Smith speaks out about court system failures that led to her son's murder
The murder of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins has become an example of how domestic violence victims and their families are left vulnerable by the justice system.
Perkins was killed outside his home in Edgewater when he tried to defend his pregnant mother, Laterria Smith, as she was attacked by her ex-boyfriend Crosetti Brand. Smith was stabbed 15 times that day, though she and her baby survived. Perkins was killed.
"He, he stabbed my son. My son hit the floor," Smith recalled with some difficulty. "My son is a true hero."
An investigation by CBS News Chicago found the system left Brand free to attack, and Smith in danger.
"I feel like I took the necessary steps to, to be protected, me and my family, to be protected. But we weren't," Smith said.
Smith filed a petition for an order of protection against Brand. She told the court that Brand "sent me several text messages saying he would kill me and my family."
Despite that, the judge denied the emergency help, only giving her a future hearing date.
"At that point I was scared, because I'm like, this is a life or death situation and I'm pleading, begging for help and you deny it?" she recalled.
She said the judge denied the order because Brand was already incarcerated, but he had only been temporarily locked up for a parole violation in a separate case involving another woman. He was released just three weeks later by the Prisoner Review Board.
Brand attacked Smith and her son the day after his release, and the same day her order of protection hearing was scheduled for.
"Had they looked into his background and seen the types of things he was doing to women, they would never have let him out of jail the day before we had to go to court," Smith said.
The CBS News Chicago investigation fond the judge, the Department of Corrections and the Prisoner Review Board all either failed to communicate or investigate critical information before Brand's release.
"I want them to acknowledge the negligence that was made," Smith said. "I just keep saying to myself, 'This can't be my life now. This can't be.' I just keep saying, 'I want to wake up from this bad dream.' But no, it's real."
Soon after our investigation two Prisoner Review Board members resigned, and lawmakers pushed to have the board go through mandatory domestic violence training.
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