Prisoner Review Board chair, member resign in wake of boy’s fatal
stabbing by released inmate
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[March 26, 2024]
By HANNAH MEISEL
Capitol News Illinois
hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com
The longtime chair and a relatively new member of the Illinois Prisoner
Review Board have resigned, Gov. JB Pritzker’s office announced Monday.
The governor’s office announced the pair’s resignations within hours of
each other nearly two weeks after Crosetti Brand was released from
Stateville Correctional Center. Brand is now charged with stabbing his
pregnant ex-girlfriend and killing her 11-year-old son the day after his
release.
Pritzker’s office said LeAnn Miller “conducted the recent Crosetti Brand
hearing,” referring to a February hearing in front of the PRB in which
the board voted to release Brand from custody after he’d allegedly
threatened his ex-girlfriend, Laterria Smith, in January.
Prior to the incident, Brand was on electronic monitoring after serving
prison time for separate domestic violence charges, according to the
Chicago Sun-Times. He was sent back to Stateville while the allegations
were investigated.
But, according to the Sun-Times, in a hearing late last month, the PRB
voted to release him because there wasn’t enough evidence to corroborate
Smith’s allegations that Brand had contacted her. Such contact would
mean Brand violated his parole, as prosecutors allege Smith had an
active order of protection against him.
Brand was released on March 12, a few weeks after the PRB’s vote. The
next morning, Brand forced his way into Smith’s apartment as she was
leaving to drop her two sons off at school, according to reporting from
the Chicago Tribune.
Prosecutors allege Brand stabbed 11-year-old Jayden Perkins to death as
he was trying to defend his mother, who was also brutally stabbed.
According to an obituary from Block Club Chicago, Perkins was an
accomplished dancer who was on a full scholarship to a dance school in
Chicago.
In a statement, Pritzker said that while the PRB “must be able to
operate independently as they review enormously difficult cases,” he
believed "LeAnn Miller has made the correct decision in stepping down
from her role.” Pritzker said in his Monday morning statement. “It is
clear that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration
that victims of domestic violence deserve and I am committed to ensuring
additional safeguards and training are in place to prevent tragedies
like this from happening again.”
The governor also wished Smith well in her recovery and said he mourned
Perkins with his family.
Pritzker’s statement said he’d asked the PRB “to engage experts and
advocates to design and implement expanded training” for board members
charged with handling cases involving domestic violence.
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The Prisoner Review Board office in Springfield. (Capitol News
Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)
The governor’s office said it also directed the PRB and Illinois
Department of Corrections “to review the current rules and procedures”
for receiving information related to cases involving domestic violence.
Miller was appointed to the Prisoner Review Board in September 2021 and
her term wasn’t due to expire until January 2027. Her appointment came
in the midst of increased scrutiny of Pritzker’s PRB appointees in 2021
and 2022. Republicans in the Illinois Senate, which votes to confirm the
governor’s hundreds of appointments to state agencies, boards and
commissions, took issue with Pritzker’s withdrawal of appointments
before a key deadline, resetting the clock for the Senate to confirm.
The GOP members argued the PRB in particular was charged with making
decisions too important for members to continue serving while
unconfirmed. Republicans put a microscope to the members’ decisions, and
the Pritzker administration ended up withdrawing names from appointment
in the face of the pressure.
While Miller wasn’t among the names the Republicans initially took issue
with for serving too long while unconfirmed, the GOP's scrutiny
eventually included Miller for her role in releasing a prisoner who
killed her two infant daughters in the 1980s. That decision involved a
review of the inmate’s later diagnosis of postpartum psychosis, which
has come to be far better understood in the three decades since.
Miller was confirmed to the board in March of last year on a 33-22 vote
with a bipartisan mix of both support and opposition.
Late Monday afternoon, the governor’s office also announced the
resignation of PRB chair Donald Shelton, who’d been on the board since
2012. In his statement about Shelton, Pritzker praised him for
“providing a model of dedication to public service.”
“During his time with the Champaign Police Department and with the PRB
he worked diligently to keep Illinoisans safe and uphold our justice
system, and I thank him for his service,” the governor said.
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