Crosetti Brand, who was convicted in the murder of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins while he defended his pregnant mother during a stabbing attack, has been sentenced to life in prison. 

Brand, 39, was found guilty of 17 counts in June, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery, home invasion and domestic battery. He was sentenced to natural life in prison plus an additional 120 years. 

He attacked his ex-girlfriend, Laterria Smith, 33, just one day after being released from jail in March of 2024, and on the same day Smith was due to have a court hearing on a request for an order of protection. Smith was also badly injured in the attack, though she and her unborn baby both survived. 

Smith gave a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing, remaining remarkably composed as she spoke but breaking down in tears when the state started playing videos of Jayden singing and dancing. She told Brand that he "took away one of the greatest gifts God had ever blessed" her with.

Her daughter was named Jayda in honor of Jayden, the brother she never met. Her 5-year-old son Kameron, Jayden's brother, also witnessed the attack.

Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Jayden's family called him a hero.

"It took an angel to stop somebody like that," said Jayden's dad, Christopher Perkins. "That's pretty much what I took from it."

"Jayden is the hero out of all of this, because he saved his mother and his brand-new sister's life," said Jayden's great-uncle, Titus Washington. "Jayden is the hero."

 But justice doesn't always bring joy.

"It ain't going to be a lot of relief, because we're still missing my baby," said Christopher Perkins. "It's just a little bit of closure for us. That's all. Just a little bit of closure. Just to let us know, at least the person who did this to him is gone for the rest of his life."

 It was an emotional day as prosecutors played videos of young Jayden singing and dancing.

The state also played several voicemails showing that Brand continued to lie about the case, including making up a fake interview with a witness, and tried to intimidate Smith by sending her sons' autopsy photos to her in the mail.

Jayden's father was temporarily removed from the courtroom during his victim impact statement.

 "It was gruesome and it was hard, and it was like reliving that day all over again," said Jayden's stepmother, Alexis Newman.

Judge Angel Petrone said Brand has proven he cannot be reformed and showed no remorse. 

Brand, who represented himself at trial, originally told the judge Tuesday he did not wish to appear at the hearing, which he attended through Zoom. The judge convinced him to stay on the Zoom call and listen. 

Before she could actually deliver her decision, he said, "It is what it is," said he would appeal the decision, and logged off the Zoom call.   

Brand and Smith started dating when she was a teenager, and their on-and-off relationship stretched for two decades. Smith repeatedly filed charges against Brand during the course of their relationship, and when Jayden was killed she was actively fighting for another order of protection against him. 

Smith is now suing the government agencies that released Brand from jail.

"I want them to admit where they went wrong, the mistakes that they made, and how they failed us," Smith told CBS News Chicago, "because I feel like I did everything to protect me and my family, and it just went unheard."