CHICAGO — A sentencing hearing is scheduled Tuesday for a man convicted of murdering an 11-year-old boy in the city's Edgewater neighborhood, and trying to kill the boy's mother.

Crosetti Brand, 39, was found guilty on all 17 counts in June.

The attack happened the morning of March 13, 2024, in the 5900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue.

Brand is accused of attacking his ex-girlfriend, Lateria Smith, who was four months pregnant at the time, and stabbing her 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins, to death.

“[Perkins was] murdered while he was defending his family. His mother was also a victim where she was stabbed 15 times, but she was probably more victimized knowing her child had just been killed,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said.

Brand maintained that the act was se

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