SPRINGFIELD, IL — The former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy convicted of murdering Sonya Massey in 2024 will stay in prison.
The three-person Illinois Prisoner Review Board panel voted unanimously July 31 to deny Sean P. Grayson’s request for medical release.
The PRB members were Rodger Heaton, Robin Shoffner and Jared Bohland. Heaton chaired the meeting.
The members deliberated for about 12 minutes.
Grayson was convicted of fatally shooting Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and the mother of two children.
Massey was shot inside her home in the Cabbage Patch neighborhood, an unincorporated area of Sangamon County on July 6, 2024. Grayson was one of two sheriff’s deputies who responded to the 911 call.
Grayson is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder by a Peoria County jury in October. He is being held in a facility out-of-state.
The 32-year-old Grayson, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2023 and now has Stage 4 rectal cancer and cancer in his liver and lungs, sought the hearing under a statute enacted in Illinois in 2022 that allows prisoners who have terminal illnesses or advanced medical conditions to apply for release.
Grayson made a pro-se request to the PRB May 18.
Grayson was not present in-person or virtually for the hearing.
Speaking on behalf of Sonya Massey were four family members: her parents, James Wilburn and Donna Massey; her son, Malachi Hill-Massey, and her cousin, Sontae Massey.
“We deserve justice,” Sontae Massey told the PRB members, looking back at his family. “Make him serve his sentence.”
Wilburn said Judge Ryan Cadagin took into account Grayson’s medical situation before sentencing.
Wilburn, who lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, referred to Grayson “as killer Grayson” and “an animal.”
Grayson chose and was granted a non-public hearing. When an applicant selects a non-public hearing, there is no interview or conversation with PRB members. They consider only the application and supporting materials submitted.
An inmate who is denied release may reapply, a PRB spokeswoman said. There is no waiting period to reapply.
(This story will be updated.)
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Illinois Prisoner Review Board votes to deny Grayson release
Reporting by Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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By Steven Spearie, Springfield State Journal-Register | USA TODAY Network
