Serving on a parole board has certain results many people fail to think about when they agree to take the position. One of them is dealing with the fallout when a convict is freed, only to re-offend quickly after their release. Now, two members of the Illinois Parole Board have decided that they screwed up too much to stay.
Crosetti Brand had been serving a 16-year sentence for home invasion and aggravated assault. A month before his parole hearing, an order of protection was filed against him by his ex-girlfriend, Laterria Smith. While the pair had not been together in 15 years, the 33-year-old Smith still feared the 37-year-old Brand. As CWB Chicago reported, “Brand was convicted of domestic-related crimes involving the woman several times between 2006 and 2009, including three violations of orders of protection.”
Only a day before the protection order was to be heard in court, Illinois Prisoner Review Board member LeAnn Miller ruled Brand could be given his freedom yet again. This even though he had already been freed and returned to jail after violating an order and sending Smith a threatening text that precipitated the newest order.
The very day Smith was to tell a court why Brand shouldn’t be allowed near her, he attacked her family in her Edgewater home. Going right after her 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins, who was trying to protect his mother and her unborn child, he hacked the youngster to death. Fortunately for Smith, she was able to escape and barricade herself in another room. Slamming into the door and trying to go after her, he eventually took off and was arrested at his mommy’s house.
Back in jail again, CWB Chicago says he is charged with “first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, three counts of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery, aggravated domestic battery, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon with a previous conviction, and violating an order of protection.”
Good on them to resign after this abysmal failure. LeAnn Miller and Chair Donald Shelton failed Smith, and especially her son Jayden. Hopefully, this time the bastard stays locked up.
