SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, a Black woman who had dialed 911 to report a possible prowler outside her Springfield home.
Sean Grayson, who is white, was convicted in October of second-degree murder in a police brutality case that prompted protests over systemic racism and led to a U.S. Department of Justice inquiry. Grayson, 31, testified at trial that he feared Massey was about to scald him with a pot of steaming hot water that she had removed from the stove.
Grayson, who has been incarcerated since he was charged, received the maximum possible sentence.
He apologized in court, saying he wished he could bring Massey back and spare her family the pain he caused. His attorney sought a sentence of six years, noting that Grayson has late stage colon cancer that has spread to his liver and lungs.
“I made a lot of mistakes that night. There were points when I should’ve acted, and I didn’t. I froze,” Grayson said. “I made terrible decisions that night. I’m sorry.”
AP AUDIO: A former Illinois deputy is sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing Sonya Massey
AP correspondent Donna Warder reports on sentencing day for an ex-Illinois sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a woman in her own home.
‘It rocked the country’
Massey’s parents and two teenage children, who lobbied for the maximum sentence, said their lives had changed dramatically since her death. Her children said they had to grow up without a mother, while Massey’s mother said she lived in fear.
“I cry every day,” Massey’s mother, Donna Massey, said.
“I’m afraid to call the police in fear that I might end up like Sonya,” she told the court.
State’s Attorney John Milhiser argued that Massey would still be alive if someone else from the sheriff’s department had responded to her 911 call.
“Sonya Massey’s death rocked her family, but it rocked the community, it rocked the country,” State’s Attorney John Milhiser said. “We have to do whatever we can to ensure it never happens again.”
The family reacted with a loud cheer — “Yes!” — after Judge Ryan Cadagin read the sentence. He admonished them for the outburst.
“Twenty years is not enough, but they did what they could do,” Massey’s 16-year-old daughter Summer told reporters after the hearing.
With a day shaved off his sentence for every day of good behavior, plus credit for nearly 19 months already spent behind bars, Grayson could be released in just under 8 1/2 years.
The day of the shooting
In the early morning hours of July 6, 2024, Massey — a 36-year-old single mother who struggled with mental health issues — summoned emergency responders because she feared there was a prowler outside her Springfield home.
According to body camera footage, Grayson and sheriff’s Deputy Dawson Farley, who was not charged, searched outside Massey’s home before meeting her at her door. Massey appeared confused and repeatedly said, “Please, God.”
The deputies entered her house, Grayson noticed the pot on the stove and ordered Farley to move it. Instead, Massey went to the stove, retrieved the pot and teased Grayson for moving away from “the hot, steaming water.”
From this moment, the exchange quickly escalated.
Massey said: “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson drew his sidearm and yelled at her to drop the pan. She set the pot down and ducked behind a counter. But she appeared to pick it up again.
That’s when Grayson opened fire, shooting Massey in the face.
Convicted of downgraded charges at trial
Grayson was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, which could have led to a life sentence, but a jury convicted him of the lesser charge. Illinois allows for a second-degree murder conviction if evidence shows the defendant honestly thought he was in danger, even if that fear was unreasonable.
Massey’s family was outraged by the verdict.
“The justice system did exactly what it’s designed to do today. It’s not meant for us,” her cousin Sontae Massey said after the verdict.
On Thursday, the same cousin said he was “thankful.” He said there is “a long way to go” to eliminate the environment that “perpetuated, created this situation. We have to work on these outdated laws. We have to get them off the books.”
Grayson told the court he understood the Massey family’s anger and begged for their forgiveness while acknowledging that wouldn’t come “any time soon.”
James Wilburn, who ended his statement to the court by quoting his daughter — “Sean Grayson, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” — said later Thursday he understands the value of forgiveness, but that he cannot reconcile Grayson’s apology with his claim at trial that his daughter was the aggressor.
After the shooting
Massey’s killing raised new questions about U.S. law enforcement shootings of Black people in their homes. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump negotiated a $10 million settlement with Sangamon County for Massey’s relatives.
The case also generated a U.S. Justice Department inquiry that was settled when the county agreed to implement more de-escalation training and collect more use-of-force data. The sheriff who hired Grayson was forced to retire, and the case prompted a change in Illinois law requiring fuller transparency on the backgrounds of candidates for law enforcement jobs. Wilburn said that law should be implemented at the federal level.
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Associated Press reporter Sophia Tareen contributed from Chicago.
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This story had been updated to correct the spelling of Judge Ryan Cadagin.
