Cook County prosecutors on Monday detailed a disturbing history of domestic violence by a man accused of killing an 11-year-old boy earlier this year and severely injuring the boy’s mother.
The latest revelations continue to raise questions over a state parole board decision to release Crosetti Brand from prison just a day before he allegedly killed Jayden Perkins and wounded the boy’s mother in a knife attack.
Prosecutors claimed during a hearing in the case that Brand was able to make 37 harassing calls to Jayden’s mother during the month he had been sent back to prison for allegedly violating his parole and showing up outside her home.
Prosecutors are asking Judge Angela Petrone to allow them to admit the calls and other incidents that they say show an “obvious escalation of violence” before the fatal attack on March 13.
Brand, 38, is accused of waiting for the boy’s mother to open her door to take her kids to school when he forced his way inside and repeatedly stabbed her.
When Jayden tried to help his mother, Brand allegedly stabbed him as well, killing the boy.
Brand had been released on parole in October last year after serving a sentence in a separate domestic violence case involving a different woman. Jayden’s mother was alerted of his release because she was listed as a previous victim of Brand’s abuse.
In late January, she received a text message from Brand threatening her family, prosecutors have said. Two days later, he allegedly appeared at the door of her apartment building in the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue.
Brand initially told a parole official he was merely looking for an apartment, according to state records.
He turned himself in, was sent to the Stateville Correctional Center and cited for a series of alleged parole violations, including coming into contact with the woman. But within weeks, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board decided to release him again when Brand denied going to the woman’s home.
Two parole officials stepped down amid criticism from Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who said it was “clear that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve.”
During the more than four-hour hearing Monday, prosecutors said they want to be able to introduce evidence and call women who could testify to their experiences being stalked, threatened and physically abused by Brand after they broke up with him.
Prosecutors said the women include an ex-girlfriend who was threatened at gunpoint by Brand after she broke up with him in 2015. During that incident, Brand also threatened to kill her young son when he tried to intervene and then stole her car, leading to the conviction that saw him locked up until October.
Another woman, a Chicago Transit Authority worker, was stalked by Brand after they broke up. He boarded her bus and then followed her into a McDonald’s where he hit her so hard she “blacked out,” prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic battery count and got 100 days in Cook County Jail.
Prosecutors also want Jayden’s mother’s to be able to testify about her on-and-off relationship with Brand that they said began when she was a teenager and he was in his early 20s.
They want the judge to allow the woman to discuss Brand’s violent behavior and violations of protection orders going back as far as 2006, ranging from him throwing rocks at her windows to allegedly threatening her and her mother with a gun and firing shots down their apartment building hallway.
Brand’s criminal history showed an “extremely similar” pattern of harassment and violence against women he had broken up with, including showing up to their home’s unannounced and menacing them with weapons, prosecutors said.
“It shows this is a calculated act committed on the victims,” Assistant State’s Attorney Stephanie Gersch said.
Brand, who is serving as his own attorney, asked the judge not to allow the state to use his criminal history because they were just “allegations that can be made up.”
He also argued that allowing the evidence would be overly prejudicial, saying “it’s overkill.”
During the hearing Monday, Brand struggled to clearly articulate his points and several times appeared confused by the rules of evidence discovery and trial procedures.
Petrone said she would issue a ruling at Brand’s next hearing on July 30.