Afternoon Briefing: How Crosetti Brand is representing himself at trial for child's slaying
Good afternoon, Chicago.
Representing himself while he stands trial on murder charges, Crosetti Brand was in the middle of heatedly arguing that he was receiving an unfair trial when the judge stopped him.
'One second,' Cook County Judge Angela Petrone said. 'You don't have to call me 'bro.''
Brand, 39, is charged with murder, attempted murder, home invasion and aggravated domestic battery in a March 13, 2024, attack that killed 11-year-old Jayden Perkins and seriously injured his pregnant mother.
During the first two weeks of an expected three-week trial, prosecutors called more than two dozen witnesses, all together painting a searing picture of the killing at the family's apartment in the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue.
Brand, though, made the unusual decision to forgo a licensed attorney and launch his own defense — a choice that, at times, has brought an air of peculiarity to the otherwise tense and emotional proceedings.
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