Former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the July 2024 killing of Springfield resident Sonya Lynaye Wilburn-Massey.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, July 6 2024, then-Deputy Sean Grayson together with his partner Deputy Dawson Farley responded to a prowler call at Sonya Massey’s home in the unincorporated Cabbage Patch community of Springfield. After a discussion over a neglected pot of boiling water inside Massey’s home, Grayson threatened to “shoot [Massey] in [her] **** face,” then drew his sidearm, prompting Massey to apologize and duck for cover behind her kitchen counter. In the ensuing exchange, Grayson approached and then shot Massey. The 36-year-old Sonya Massey died of her injuries, with Grayson urging his partner to not attempt to render medical assistance, stating in bodycam footage, “She’s done.”
The killing was covered by news agencies across the world, with the ensuing Illinois State Police investigation resulting in the firing and arrest of Sean Grayson, the resignation of Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, and a $10 million lawsuit settlement between the Massey family and Sangamon County. Later that year, the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office entered into an agreement with the US Department of Justice to end a federal misconduct investigation in exchange for “a framework for ongoing improvements to enhance transparency, accountability, and community trust.”
Since the incident, Grayson has maintained that he drew and later fired his weapon because he feared Massey intended to throw the boiling water at him.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that Grayson’s actions had not been driven by fear; that he instigated the situation by drawing his weapon and threatening to shoot Massey. Any danger to Grayson’s life, they contended, was brought about by his own actions.
“She was not threatening him,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Beth Rodgers. “He has no right to follow and shoot her.”
In their closing remarks, Grayson’s lawyers cast doubt upon the reliability of the prosecution’s testimony. In particular, Daniel Fultz homed in on the reporting by Grayson’s partner Dep. Farley, who Fultz suggested lied when he corrected his incident report to the Illinois State Police out of fear of losing his job and being convicted alongside Grayson.
The bulk of the defense’s case rested upon whether Deputies Sean Grayson and Farley could reasonably have perceived Sonya Massey’s behavior as threatening. In testifying on Monday, Grayson emphasized the presence of potential weapons in Massey’s home such as a baseball bat or the pot of boiling water left on Massey’s stove. Farley’s testimony stood in contradiction to this, with his amended report to the ISP stating that the only reason he had felt fear during the incident was on account of Grayson’s behavior.
Fultz insisted to jurors on Tuesday that Massey’s actions had led to her death. The jury, he said, did not have to agree with Grayson’s assertion that Massey’s now-famous quip of “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” could be taken as a threat, but only had to accept that Grayson had believed in the moments leading up to the shooting that it had been a threat.
Closing arguments in the weeklong trial concluded at 11:17 AM on Tuesday with State’s Attorney John Milhiser, in his rebuttal, making a point of replaying Dep. Farley’s bodycam footage from the incident. Several members of Massey’s family in attendance left the room while the footage played; members of the jury broke out in tears. Grayson himself avoided re-watching the video altogether on Tuesday.
Judge Ryan Cadagin gave jurors three options for a verdict: find Grayson guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of second-degree murder, or find him not guilty.
Under Illinois law, “A person who kills an individual without lawful justification commits first degree murder if, in performing the acts which cause the death,”
- he or she either intends to kill or do great bodily harm to that individual or another, or knows that such acts will cause death to that individual or another; or
- he or she knows that such acts create a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to that individual or another; or
- he or she, acting alone or with one or more participants, commits or attempts to commit a forcible felony other than second degree murder, and in the course of or in furtherance of such crime or flight therefrom, he or she or another participant causes the death of a person.
The crime is instead defined as second-degree murder if it was committed “under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation by the individual killed,” or, “at the time of the killing he or she believes the circumstances to be such that, if they existed, would justify or exonerate the killing […] but his or her belief is unreasonable.”
On Tuesday, the prosecution bristled at the second-degree option. “This isn’t second-degree murder,” declared Milhiser. “This is first-degree murder.”
The jury, it appears, did not agree with Milhiser’s assessment after deliberating several hours on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The court reopened shortly after 2:30 PM on Wednesday afternoon, where Judge Cadagin delivered the decision: Sean Grayson is Guilty, of Second-Degree Murder.
Grayson now awaits sentencing.
