Wicked stepdad's disgraceful courtroom outburst as he is jailed for life over murder of boy, 11
Crosetti Brand, 39, was handed a natural life sentence plus 120 years by Cook County Judge Angela Petrone on Tuesday, nearly 18 months after the horrific murder of Jayden Perkins in Chicago 's Ravenswood neighborhood.
Laterria Smith, Jayden's grieving mother, addressed Brand directly in court, telling him: 'You have taken away one of the greatest gifts God has blessed me with. I will never be ok… You came and destroyed my life.'
The judge described Jayden as 'a beautiful, innocent boy' who died protecting his mother and called the killing 'exceptionally brutal.'
But Brand, who represented himself at trial, showed no remorse. Appearing virtually from jail, he initially asked to skip the hearing altogether, sneering at the judge: 'You gonna give me life anyway, so it's like why the f*** am I sticking around?'
He ultimately stayed - only to interrupt prosecutors repeatedly with outbursts and objections as they presented new evidence, including a chilling voicemail he left Smith just weeks before the attack: 'You keep moving how you motherf***ing moving… You gonna see what I'm talking about,' he said in the message.
Prosecutors revealed that Brand had also mailed Smith graphic photos from Jayden's autopsy and made threatening phone calls from jail, pressuring his mother to drop the charges and issuing threats against Jayden's father, prosecutors, and even the judge herself.
When Petrone finally handed down the sentence, Brand logged off Zoom in defiance, telling her: 'I know I can't change your mind… I'm at peace. I'm gonna take it up with the notice of appeal court.'
The tragedy unfolded on March 13, 2024 - just hours after Brand was released from prison - when he broke into Smith's home and ambushed her and Jayden as they were leaving for school.
According to prosecutors Brand had been lying in wait inside the apartment with clear intent to kill the woman who had rejected him.
He grabbed Smith in a chokehold and stabbed her 15 times.
When Jayden stepped in to defend his mom, Brand turned the knife on him.
Jayden died from his injuries. Smith, who was pregnant at the time, survived - as did her unborn daughter.
'Jayden is the hero out of all of this, because he saved his mother and his brand new sister's life,' said Smith's uncle, Titus Washington. 'Jayden is the hero.'
Assistant State's Attorney Danny Hanichak blasted Brand as a chronic abuser who had spent nearly his entire adult life either behind bars or facing charges, primarily for violence against women and children.
Brand had only recently completed 8 years of a 16-year sentence for attacking another ex and pointing a gun at her young son. He was released in October 2023. Within months he had began stalking and threatening Smith.
Though Smith repeatedly reported his behavior to authorities and the parole board, Brand was inexplicably released again on March 12. Less than 24 hours later, Jayden was dead.
'Nothing will ever rehabilitate this defendant; he is nothing more than a pathetic lifelong criminal,' Hanichak said. 'What this criminal never counted on is that one 11-year-old boy would put an end to Crosetti Brand's terror.'
Brand's self-representation during the trial made proceedings chaotic and painful for the victims' family, as he was permitted to cross-examine witnesses and even call himself to the stand.
Jurors took less than 90 minutes to convict him on all charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated domestic battery, and home invasion.
The case has since sparked outrage across Illinois and exposed grave flaws in the state's parole system.
Two members of the Prisoner Review Board who authorized Brand's release resigned following the murder, and lawmakers have since passed legislation allowing victims to submit impact statements before parole decisions and seek restraining orders against parole candidates.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
11 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
No-nonsense mother hits vile bullies where it hurts after they got off lightly over horrific attack on her teen son
A Las Vegas mother is striking back at the ruthless bullies who allegedly beat up her teen son in a dramatic house party brawl, leaving him with a brain injury. Amy Luciano recently sued the vicious teens who were filmed battering her then-15-year-old son Devin outside a northwest Las Vegas Valley home in October 2023. The gutted mother told 8 News Now the horrifying attack began as a fight among several Palo Verde High School students, but quickly turned into seven teens jumping Devin. Footage of the attack shows multiple people punching, kicking and stomping on Devin as he was on the ground, helplessly trying to push them off. Devin's face was bloodied, bruised and swollen. His mother claimed he sustained a mild traumatic brain injury and 'will never be the same,' she told 8 News Now. Meanwhile, according to Amy, his assailants got off with a slap on the wrist. 'There was a total of seven juvenile offenders that jumped Devin,' she told 8 News Now. 'Only three of the juvenile offenders ended up getting charged and that was only due to my persistence.' Their identities have been sealed because they were charged as juveniles, but they were sentenced to probation - a punishment Amy feels was far too light. So she took matters into her own hands and decided to file a lawsuit nearly two years after her son's life changed forever. In the civil suit, Amy named the alleged assailants and the owner of the house where the fight occurred. 'What happened was wrong and somebody's got to pay, because Devin is never going to be the same. Not with a mild traumatic brain injury,' she told 8 News Now. Before suing, Amy had pushed for them to be tried as adults since they were nearly 18, but her efforts never amounted to anything. 'These kids' brains are formally formed and they're fully aware and they know exactly what they're doing,' she told the outlet. 'So, why can't the prosecutors hold these juvenile offenders accountable?' In the incident's aftermath, Amy said Devin slept in her room for an entire month, crying in his sleep, yelling, 'I'm sorry, please stop kicking me.' They have since moved back to Clark County, but Amy said Devin will not be returning to Palo Verde High School (pictured) He missed an entire year of school, and Amy said they moved to Reno for some time out of fear that the attackers would strike again and because her other kids were getting harassed at school about the fight. They have since moved back to Clark County, but Amy said Devin will not be returning to Palo Verde High School. Daily Mail has contacted the Clark County District Court for more information on the lawsuit.
The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Alleged killer of Minnesota politician and her husband expected to plead not guilty in court
The man charged with killing the top Democrat in the Minnesota house and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, is expected to plead not guilty when he's arraigned in federal court on Thursday, his attorney said. Vance Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, Minnesota, was indicted on 15 July on six counts of murder, stalking and firearms violations. The murder charges could carry the federal death penalty, though prosecutors say that decision is several months away. As they announced the indictment, prosecutors released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to the FBI director, Kash Patel, in which he confessed to the 14 June shootings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. However, the letter doesn't make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who survived. The hearing before US magistrate judge Dulce Foster will also serve as a case management conference. She plans to issue a revised schedule with deadlines afterward, potentially including a trial date. Prosecutors have moved to designate the proceedings as a 'complex case' so that standard speedy trial requirements won't apply, saying both sides will need plenty of time to review the voluminous evidence. Boelter's motivations remain murky. Friends have described him as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views who had been struggling to find work. Authorities said Boelter made long lists of politicians in Minnesota and other states – all or mostly Democrats. In a series of cryptic notes to the New York Times through his jail's electronic messaging service, Boelter suggested his actions were partly rooted in the Christian commandment to love one's neighbor. 'Because I love my neighbors prior to June 14th I conducted a 2 year long undercover investigation,' he wrote. In messages published earlier by the New York Post, Boelter insisted the shootings had nothing to do with his opposition to abortion or his support for Donald Trump, but he declined to elaborate. 'There is little evidence showing why he turned to political violence and extremism,' the acting US attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson, told reporters last month. He also reiterated that prosecutors consider Hortman's killing a 'political assassination'. Prosecutors say Boelter was disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car early on 14 June when he went to the Hoffmans' home in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin. He shot the senator nine times and his wife eight times, officials said. Boelter later went to the Hortmans' home in nearby Brooklyn Park and killed both of them, authorities said.
The Guardian
41 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘It's not a coincidence': after Ghislaine Maxwell's prison move … what next?
When Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security prison camp last week, despite being convicted of sex trafficking for Jeffrey Epstein, her move fueled ever-growing speculation about authorities' handling of the late financier's crimes. For many, the timing of Maxwell's sudden relocation from a Florida penitentiary to a Texas lockup known for its more campus feel and celebrity inmates was especially suspect – with two Epstein victims reportedly describing the event as a 'cover-up'. Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 of luring girls into Epstein's abusive world, met with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, one week before the move. This sit-down with Blanche – who defended Donald Trump in criminal proceedings before working in his justice department – came amid extensive criticism of the president's botched release of Epstein investigative files. The Epstein scandal is once again roiling American politics with many especially focused on the exact nature of Trump's own social links to Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019. Trump had vowed on the campaign trail to release the Epstein files, a siren song to the many Maga devotees convinced that a network of elites protected Epstein and potentially participated in his sex trafficking of teen girls. But Trump's justice department then later released a memorandum stating that there was no Epstein client list and elected not to release extensive case files. Following the backtracking, several reports highlighting Trump's past ties to Epstein stoked still more suspicion. The Wall Street Journal published an article alleging that Trump contributed a 'bawdy' letter to a birthday book for Epstein. Not long after this story was published, Trump said that he had instructed the justice department to request unsealing of grand jury transcripts in Epstein and Maxwell's criminal proceedings. The newspaper on 23 July reported that his attorney general, Pam Bondi, told him that there were multiple instances of his name in the Epstein files, potentially negating whatever benefit he hoped would come from his grand jury directive. The House oversight committee on Tuesday subpoenaed Trump's justice department for Epstein investigation files, per the Associated Press – further amplifying comment surrounding Maxwell's improved prison conditions. Several longtime defense attorneys said that Maxwell's reassignment to FPC Bryan suggested she provided useful information to the justice department officials she talked with. It's also possible that this transfer foreshadows still better conditions for Maxwell – including possible release, they speculated. 'My thinking is: if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck,' said Randy Zelin, a longtime defense attorney who has taught law at Cornell Law School. 'If someone who is in a really not nice prison gets moved to a nicer prison, there is typically a reason behind that, and it's not merely because you are the next contestant on The Price Is Right or today's your lucky day. 'It would appear to me that when Ms Maxwell was questioned under what we call a 'proffer agreement' by the government, the answers that she gave were found to be credible, they were found to be truthful and they were found to be helpful,' Zelin said. 'In exchange for her being helpful and being truthful and being candid and being cooperative, she had a [benefit] conferred upon her, which is: she's in much nicer digs than she was before she provided her help to the government.' While the Bureau of Prisons has discretion over inmate placement, Zelin surmises there was probably an agreement between the correctional agency and the justice department to move Maxwell. 'It's not a coincidence, and it's either because she's helping the Department of Justice go after other people, or she has more or less exonerated the president, and she has told the Department of Justice that she knows of absolutely nothing inappropriate, untoward or gross that took place between the president and Jeffrey Epstein,' Zelin said. Asked if one should look at Maxwell's move as a one-off, Zelin said no. 'This is the beginning, not the end.' For Sam Bassett, a criminal defense attorney with Austin, Texas-based law firm Minton, Bassett, Flores & Carsey, publicity surrounding Maxwell's meeting is particularly interesting. 'One of the things that intrigued me about the whole situation with her interview is how public it was and how public her lawyer was about it. I know that when my clients cooperate, either post conviction or even before they're convicted, it's something that I like to keep under wraps,' Bassett said. He noted that one reason for privacy surrounding meetings and cooperation is because other inmates tend to look down upon those who cooperate. 'So it really flagged to me that this was kind of a political move on a lawyer's part. It puts some pressure on the president or his staff to consider a pardon or commutation at some point.' As for Maxwell's transfer, Bassett said it could stem from security reasons – such as threats at her previous prison in Florida – or her lawyers requested a move. But it was 'unusual' that a person found culpable of such a serious crime as sex trafficking would end up in a prison camp. 'Maybe it's to be a recognition for cooperation, giving her more freedom, so to speak, in a facility,' he said, noting that a move to a lower-security facility might be considered a favor to some. 'The question is: is this a foreshadowing of bigger favors to come? Neama Rahmani, founder of West Coast Trial lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, said there were multiple possibilities behind the move. 'It could be something huge or just a mere coincidence,' Rahmani said. 'The Bureau of Prisons has complete control over inmate placement, and especially when you deal with female inmates, there's not as many facilities, so the options are more limited.' Rahmani said that sex trafficking was considered a more serious crime, a crime of violence, 'so her being moved to a minimum security camp would be atypical, but it's not unheard of'. That said, the chronology continues to raise many questions. Maxwell met with Blanche, she is vying for relief from the US supreme court, and potentially will testify before Congress. 'The timing of it all leads me to believe that maybe something big is really happening, and by something big, that has to be a cooperation, right? That's really all she has to offer.' For Maxwell, relief could take the form of prosecutors requesting a resentencing, prison officials moving her to home confinement, or a pardon. A veteran legal public relations expert, who spoke under the condition of anonymity as they have clients in federal custody, surmised Maxwell 'must have provided prosecutors with information that was valuable enough post conviction for her to warrant these more favorable sentencing conditions – and they're considerably more favorable'. 'The interesting thing to outsiders is it appears that she's a cooperating witness, though, at this point, she's cooperating against a corpse, and a corpse cannot be convicted,' they said. The public relations veteran described the Maxwell-Blanche meeting as 'part one' of a process potentially resulting in better sentencing conditions. 'Part two is the public finding out, through DoJ disclosure, what information she actually provided,' they said. 'I do think that there's going to be some mechanism for them to release what she shared – and I think what she shared was indeed favorable enough to secure these lessened conditions.' Asked for comment about Maxwell's transfer, a senior administration official said: 'Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd. Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to death threats, and significant safety and danger concerns.' Trump's justice department pointed to Blanche's tweet about his meeting with Maxwell, in which he said they 'will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time'. Neither the Bureau of Prisons nor Maxwell's lawyer immediately responded to requests for comment.
