We have had 37 previous posts entitled Hold Them Accountable, in which I have called for prosecutors, judges, and parole officials to be held accountable for crimes committed by people who could and should have already been behind bars. Well, at least one parole official has had at least the grace to resign for her actions, though it is my belief that she should be behind bars herself.
Prisoner Review Board member resigns after paroled offender accused of killing 11-year-old boy, stabbing the child’s mother
By Andy Rose and Sarah Dewberry, CNN | Monday, March 25, 2024 | 8:24 PM EDT
The Illinois governor announced the resignation of a member of the state’s prisoner review board on Monday, 10 days after a man who was released on parole was charged with attacking a former girlfriend and killing her 11-year-old son.
LeAnn Miller recommended the release of 37-year-old Crosetti Brand and conducted the hearing that resulted in him being granted parole, according to the governor’s office. CNN has reached out to Miller for comment.
Brand is accused of stabbing Laterria Smith, 33, and killing her 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins, as the child was trying to defend her in their Chicago apartment on March 13, officials said during a news conference held two days later.
Further down:
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said the violent attack “should not have happened,” because Brand had previously violated protection orders. “He has three orders of protection violations against him,” Snelling said.
Snelling said Brand had been released on parole the day before the attack, noting the suspect was “still serving a 16-year sentence for home invasion where he caused injury.”
This was the suspect’s second stint on parole, Antoinette Ursitti, the chief of Chicago’s Bureau of Detectives, said during the March 15 news conference.
Ursitti said Brand was put back in custody on a parole violation after he threatened the 33-year-old victim, with whom he’d had a prior relationship, via text messages and showed up at her house.
I’m sorry, but just how f(ornicating) stupid do you have to be to have released a guy like that? If the accusations against Mr Brand are accurate, then it is clear that LeAnn Miller is personally responsible for young Jayden Perkins murder, and the wounding of Laterria Smith. No, she didn’t put the knife in Mr Brand’s hand, but she put him out on the street where he could get one, and from where he could get to their apartment.
Review Board Chairman Donald Shelton resigned later in the day.
The CNN article gives us more than one failure of the parole hearing, including the fact that the Board did not know that Miss Smith had filed for another order of protection, and the fact that she “presented insufficient evidence of an emergency,” and that the requested order was denied. Of course, an order of protection is just a piece of paper, and an (alleged) killer like Mr Brand wouldn’t be stopped by such a thing.
What would have stopped Mr Brand? Keeping him behind bars until the last possible minute of his sentence! Who knows, maybe serving the full sixteen years would not have stopped Mr Brand from going after Miss Smith after he did get out, but at least for now, she’s not have been attacked, and her sone would still be alive.