SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — The Illinois Supreme Court is now weighing whether or not to let former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson be released with special conditions ahead of his October trial.
Grayson is charged with the murder of Sonya Massey. While on duty, he shot and killed Massey in her home after she called 911 in July 2024.
The legal fight — which is separate from the criminal trial — has been going on since he was arrested shortly after Massey’s death. The Circuit Court in Sangamon County ruled twice that Grayson should be detained under the SAFE-T Act, but an Appellate Court overturned that decision back in November.
“Now, at this point, Sean Grayson is presumed innocent. And more importantly for this case, he, like every other defendant, is presumed eligible for pretrial release,” Assistant Appellate Defender Deborah Pugh said. “The burden is on the state to prove that he should not be released and that he would not comply with conditions. As the fourth District said, the issue before the court is not the defendant’s guilt or innocence, but whether he should be detained prior to trial.”
Now, the Supreme Court will weigh in. The court heard arguments from the Appellate defender and the Attorney General’s Office. The main question at hand in this case is whether there are any restrictions or mitigations the court can utilize to keep Grayson from being a danger to the public if he were to be released. Options that were discussed during the arguments were home confinement and electronic monitoring.
Grayson’s attorneys argued that any risk he posed to the public was eliminated when his gun and badge were taken, since he shot Massey in his official capacity as a deputy. They said that since he wouldn’t be put in that situation again, he would not pose a similar threat.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office argued that Grayson completely disregarded his training when he shot Massey, and therefore should not be trusted to follow rules imposed by the court.
“Ms. Massey was compliant every step of the way,” Illinois Assistant Attorney General Michael Cebula said. “Ms. Massey was polite, every step of the way. Ms. Massey was appreciative. She said, Love you all. Thank you. This was not a high stress situation. And the fact that defendant viewed it as a high stress situation should be deeply troubling because it shows exactly what the court said. He has terrible judgment. He impulsively resorts to violence.”
The justices took turns questioning the attorneys. Several asked Grayson’s attorney about his prior history, including two DUIs from before he was a police officer. They also posed the argument that Grayson may not be trusted to correctly utilize electronic monitoring, because the night he shot Massey, he did not have his body camera on. The entire incident was captured on his partner’s body camera.
Now the Supreme Court will deliberate. There is no clear time table for when they could issue their ruling. Grayson’s criminal trial is set to begin in October.
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