A white former cop convicted of killing a Black woman in her Springfield-area home two years ago died in prison Sunday, according to his legal team.
Sean Grayson was battling stage 4 rectal cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs, and had in May requested an early medical release. A three-person state panel that handles all inmate release and clemency decisions unanimously denied Grayson’s request three weeks ago.
The Illinois Department of Corrections did not return immediate requests for comment on the time and manner of Grayson’s death.
The 32-year-old former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy was serving a 20-year-sentence for fatally shooting Sonya Massey on July 6, 2024. Massey, 36, had called the police to her home to report a potential prowler when Grayson and another officer responded.
The interaction escalated in a matter of minutes, after Grayson threatened to “shoot [Massey] in the f- – – – – – face” as he focused on a pot of boiling water on her stove. Body-worn camera footage shows an unarmed Massey ducking behind her kitchen counter as Grayson fired his duty weapon at her three times, striking her in her face.
Massey’s family members and friends celebrated the news of Grayson’s passing on Facebook. Massey’s cousin, Shadia Massey, told WBEZ that justice has been served.
“Now my family can start our grieving process — most of us had no time to grieve,” Massey said. “Thanks be to God.”
State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, has known the Massey family for decades and was behind a state law that mandates police departments implement stricter background checks for prospective hires.
“It’s also really comforting to the family that we are continuing to do what we can in our community so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Turner said.
According to his defense attorney Mark Wykoff, Grayson was first diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2023. Wykoff told a downstate jury during Grayson’s criminal trial last fall that “imprisonment would endanger his medical condition.”
And despite the jury finding him guilty of second-degree murder, Grayson maintained in his petition for medical release to the Prisoner Review Board — which was obtained by WBEZ — that Massey had “attacked him with a pot of boiling water.”
Grayson sought early release through the state’s Joe Coleman Medical Release Act, which allows those in custody who are terminally ill or who have a medical condition that incapacitates them to apply for early release from prison.
He indicated his cancer would likely result in medical incapacitation within six months and death within 18 months. Grayson also noted he had been hospitalized for at least a month during the previous year, but still retained basic functions, such as feeding and clothing himself.
In a letter to the Prisoner Review Board ahead of the July hearing, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said Grayson was already diagnosed with cancer when he shot Massey, and that “cancer does not make him any less dangerous.”
At the hearing, Massey’s son, Malachi Hill, echoed the same sentiments.
“He was not thinking about his medical situation when he did what he did,” Hill said. “Why should we honestly care about him getting the best medical needs when … he took her life selfishly.”