Overview

• Tuesday’s proceedings began with the former student describing how Crowder, then a dean at Little Village Lawndale’s Social Justice High School, used Snapchat messages to initiate a relationship when she was 15.
• Prosecutors say Crowder abused his authority to maintain the relationship from 2013 to 2016, resulting in seven felony charges including two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault.
• Last week, Crowder turned down a plea agreement that would have limited his sentence to six years and required lifetime sex-offender registration.
• According to court records, he posed as the student’s stepfather to obtain consent for two abortions during her high school years and arranged a third after she graduated.
• The trial revives questions about Chicago Public Schools’ response to abuse allegations after a 2018 Tribune investigation and a related 2024 civil lawsuit.