Ex-deputy who shot Sonya Massey is denied a request for medical release from prison

CHICAGO (AP) — A former Illinois sheriff’s deputy won't get an early medical release from his two-decade prison sentence for killing Sonya Massey inside her home after the Black woman called 911 about a possible prowler, state officials decided Friday.

Sean Grayson had been diagnosed with colon cancer prior to the 2024 shooting, and his attorney noted in January that the cancer had advanced to his liver and lungs.

The three-member Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted unanimously Friday to deny Grayson's application for early medical release, Liz Mitchell, a board spokesperson, said in an email.

Grayson, who is white, was convicted in October of second-degree murder for Massey's killing, a case that sparked protests over systemic racism and a U.S. Department of Justice review.

Body camera footage showed Grayson and another deputy enter Massey's home in Springfield, Illinois. Minutes later, Grayson shot the 36-year-old single mother in the face as she moved a pot of hot water from the stove and told him, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Grayson was given the maximum possible sentence.

He filed for early release from prison in May, six months into his sentence, according to a copy of his application published by Capitol News Illinois. Grayson apologized for Massey's death at his January sentencing but in the release application wrote she had “attacked me with a pot of boiling water.”

Daniel Fultz, an attorney who has represented Grayson, declined to comment Friday.

In a letter to the board opposing Grayson's release, Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser said the former deputy's medical condition was already considered at sentencing.

“To release Grayson under these circumstances would be a miscarriage of justice,” he wrote, “and an insult to Sonya Massey’s memory and family.”

Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, attorneys representing Massey's family, said Friday that the board “made the right decision.”

“Today the board recognized what this family has said from the start,” they said in a statement. “No one is above accountability, and a badge does not provide an early way out.”

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement that Illinois law requires the Prisoner Review Board to consider medical release requests. He called Massey's killing “a profound loss.”

“Sonya was innocent, unarmed, and calling law enforcement for help,” he said. “It was a painful reminder that too many innocent Black Americans have faced this kind of violence — and they deserve justice.”

Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.