* From March…
As Chicago’s top cop announced charges Friday against a convicted felon accused of brutally stabbing his ex-girlfriend and killing her 11-year-old son, Police Supt. Larry Snelling repeatedly said the attack “should’ve never happened.”
But questions remained over what should have been done to prevent the attack, including why Crosetti Brand, 37, was released from the Stateville Correctional Center on Tuesday after having been sent back to prison earlier this year for menacing the pregnant woman while on parole.
The next day, Brand allegedly forced his way into the woman’s Edgewater apartment, stabbed her repeatedly, then stabbed her son Jayden Perkins when the boy came to her aid.
The woman had repeatedly asked for help from authorities in the weeks before the attack, including seeking an emergency order of protection that was denied by a Cook County judge. […]
In the meantime, the woman sought an emergency protection order. During a Feb. 21 hearing, the woman told Judge Thomas Nowinski that Chicago police didn’t let her file a report when she called about Brand. Instead, they told her to get a protection order. “They asked me, do I have one currently,” she said, “and I told them no.”
At no time during the hearing did the judge ask questions about the alleged texts or Brand’s visit to the home, according to a transcript.
Nowinski decided against issuing an order, even though the woman testified under oath that she had previously sought one against Brand in 2009.
* Yesterday…
A man suspected of fatally stabbing his wife Tuesday in Portage Park had already been facing charges for allegedly choking and attempting to kidnap her last month, but he was released on GPS monitoring, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Hours after the Tuesday stabbing, the suspect, 57, was found dead inside a car a block away.
An off-duty detective witnessed the stabbing about 2:25 p.m. in the 5600 block of West Leland Avenue and suffered a gunshot wound while trying to intervene, according to a preliminary statement from Chicago police. […]
The man was previously charged in a separate attack against his wife on Oct. 9 — the same day he was served with an emergency order of protection she had sought, court records show.
Prosecutors filed a petition that day to have him held in Cook County Jail pending trial, but it was denied by Judge Thomas E. Nowinski. Nowinski instead released the suspect on GPS monitoring, ordered him to refrain from possessing weapons and forbade him from visiting his wife’s home, work or school.
According to her petition for the protective order, the second the woman had sought against her husband this year, she said he grabbed her as she was walking to the bus, tried to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming and attempted to knock her unconscious.
Judge Nowinski, who serves in the court’s Domestic Violence Division, is Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County Iris Martinez’s former chief of staff.
* And before anyone pops off in comments, every major group that works with domestic violence survivors in this state supported the SAFE-T Act because it gave judges and prosecutors far more power to keep abusers behind bars until trial.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 8:47 am:
It could have happened just as easily under the old system. I am not trying to make any excuses but being a judge can be hard work and even a judge cannot predict the future
What is the alternative? Keep everyone served with an order of protection in jail for the length of the order?
- JoanP - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:01 am:
= Keep everyone served with an order of protection in jail for the length of the order? =
No, but when someone attacks the complainant on the same day they are served with an order of protection, that’s a strong indication to the court that the person is unlikely to comply with the conditions of release.
- Papa2008 - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:01 am:
Ankle bracelet on the “alleged offender”. Blue tooth tracking app for the “victim”. I’m sure we have the technology.
- Captain Obvious - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:17 am:
Judges have the power but not necessarily the will. Prosecutors same. That is the major flaw inherent in the so called safet act. As long as the discretion of a human being is a factor, this kind of tragedy will persist. Domestic violence perps should not be released prior to trial. They are absolutely a danger to a person as specified in the law. Pity that judges don’t see it that way.
- Meredith - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:25 am:
==Chicago police didn’t let her file a report==
How does a regular person, especially a person without a computer and legal training, officially document these types of problems if not on a police report?
Is there an online form for a report less than an official police report? I suspect insiders will say domestic issues are complicated and I’m likely not seeing the whole picture. I’m just trying to understand the issue better.
- Center Drift - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:27 am:
One time you give a warning but a second threat or attack the only rational choice is lock the person up. Assuming the judge had all the information these individuals should have been detained. In that case the judge should be taken off this bench.
- Mary - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:38 am:
Meredith-even if you try to file a police report online with CPD, if there is the slightest thing wrong with it, the system kicks it out (and then the report conveniently does not show up on the crime stats). Good luck trying to find a cop on duty to answer the phone for intake in some jurisdictions. Nor are cops excited to go out on these types of calls, precisely because they are the kind where they are at highest risk of personal liability/lawsuit if/when something goes wrong.
- JoanP - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:39 am:
= Ankle bracelet on the “alleged offender”. =
He was on GPS monitoring.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 9:54 am:
- As long as the discretion of a human being is a factor, this kind of tragedy will persist. -
That discretion was still present under cash bail.
- Lincoln Lad - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 10:06 am:
The system failed, but it was human failure by either the prosecutor or the judge or both. No way he should have been released after defying the protective order. Incredibly bad judgment or lack of effectively preparing and presenting the argument.
- Ugh - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 10:28 am:
Disgraceful job by judge. Remove from the bench.