A convicted domestic abuser who stabbed an 11-year-old boy to death as the child heroically tried to protect his pregnant mother has been sentenced to life in prison – but not before launching into a vile tirade during his sentencing hearing.
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?’