On a day when a nationally known civil rights attorney said the scheduled July 22 release of body-worn camera footage of the death of Sonya Massey will shock the country, her father questioned whether the Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy who allegedly shot her should have been hired in the first place.
“They were all these red flags, and yet they still made him a deputy in this county,” James Wilburn, 66, of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, told the approximately 200 people gathered July 19 for Massey’s funeral at Ruby’s Funeral Services & Crematories.
Sean Grayson, 30, of Riverton, has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in the July 6 death of Massey, 36. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in police custody.
After Massey called 911 about a suspected prowler and two deputies showed up at her home in a section of the “Cabbage Patch” neighborhood just outside Springfield’s borders, an argument ensued between her and Grayson over his apparent concern about a pot of water heating on her stove, according to court documents.
The argument escalated, and Grayson allegedly shot Massey, who was unarmed, in the face, inflicting what would be a fatal wound.
Crump, who has viewed police video of the incident, said Massey’s last words to Grayson were “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” a phrase she repeated two times.
Court documents said Massey put her hands in the air and stated, “I’m sorry” and ducked behind a counter before Grayson allegedly approached her and fired his gun at her.
According to Massey’s father, the “red flags” surrounding Grayson included two convictions for driving while under the influence and relatively short stints at five different Illinois police departments since 2021.
Wilburn condemned the state’s law-enforcement system “when you are allowed to resign and they recycle you.”
And civil rights attorney Ben Crump told the crowd gathered for a two-hour funeral filled with gospel fervor, music, chanting and hand-raising prayers, that the police video of Massey’s death “is going to shock the conscience of America.”
Crump said he and the Massey family viewed the video of the confrontation between 110-pound Sonya Massey and the much larger Grayson that ended with Grayson allegedly firing three shots at Massey and one of the bullets hitting the single mother of two teenagers in the face.
The “horrible video” portrayed actions that were “senseless,” “unnecessary,” “unjustifiable” and “unconstitutional,” Crump said.
He said the video of Grayson’s alleged treatment of Massey, who “may have had some mental issues,” shows the same type of police brutality that was revealed in casket photographs of the mutilated body of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy who was lynched in 1955 in Mississippi.
Crump said the soon-to-be-released video will evoke emotions similar to when police videos were made public showing the high-profile deaths of other Black people at the hands of whites, such as the suffocation death of George Floyd, 46, who was murdered in May 2020 by a Minneapolis police officer, and the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke.
Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to the five criminal counts handed down by the grand jury. His attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment on statements made at Massey’s funeral.
Unlike former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who received a 22½-year prison sentence for Floyd’s murder, Van Dyke received a prison sentence of less than seven years for a second-degree murder conviction and served less than half of that sentence because of time off for good behavior.
Van Dyke’s sentence was a “slap on the wrist” Crump said the public won’t be satisfied unless Grayson is “sitting in a jail cell for 25 years, if not life.”
With the potential for additional prison time connected with the alleged use of a gun, Grayson could face a prison sentence of 45 years to life if convicted of first-degree murder, and he would be required to serve 100% of any sentence for that charge.
Wilburn said Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who was in charge when Grayson was hired in May 2023, “needs to go.”
Wilburn added, “I know they have lowered the standards for what is acceptable in law enforcement.”
Campbell wouldn’t comment on statements from Massey’s funeral and referred questions about Grayson and the sheriff’s department’s hiring process to county spokesperson Jeff Wilhite.
Campbell fired Grayson on July 17, the same day he was indicted by a Sangamon County grand jury.
Wilhite said in a statement, “All potential Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office employees undergo a criminal background check.”
Wilhite added: “To our knowledge, Grayson had not been fired from a prior law enforcement job. Grayson had no use-of-force complaints or citizens' complaints while employed as a Sangamon County deputy. And to our knowledge, Grayson had no complaints filed against him at prior law enforcement jobs.”
Former Springfield police chief Kenny Winslow, now executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, said misdemeanor DUI convictions don’t automatically disqualify someone from being hired as a police officer in Illinois.
State certification to work as a police officer is automatically revoked upon conviction of a felony or certain misdemeanors. The misdemeanors include aggravated assault, harassment of a witness, domestic battery, deceptive practices, offering a bribe and delivery of cannabis on school grounds.
Before that, Grayson worked full time for the Auburn Police Department for about nine months. And before Auburn, he worked part time for police departments in Virden, Kincaid and Pawnee between August 2020 and December 2021, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board.
Massey’s father and Crump, whose law firm is representing the Massey family, had kind words for Illinois State Police and State’s Attorney John Milhiser for a rapid investigation and swift decision on criminal charges.
Sam Cahnman, a Springfield Democrat on the Republican-controlled Sangamon County Board, told the audience at Massey’s funeral that he didn’t know her but will demand an explanation of the sheriff’s department’s hiring practices.
Cahnman said he will work to reform the hiring process “and make sure we never have any deputies like this hired ever again.”
Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory’s voice shook with emotion as he told the audience he will continue to work for city government policies that are fair to Black people.
“Every day, we pray for policies that make our lives better, and we failed here,” Gregory said. “We’re going to use every day that I sit in that seat to fight for justice for our system, and for all of us. I love you all, and I promise you that I will not let her name go in vain.”
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at 217-836-1068, [email protected] or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
