Sean Grayson, ex-deputy convicted of Sonya Massey’s murder, dies in prison

Sean Grayson , a former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of fatally shooting Sonya Massey inside her home in 2024, died Sunday while serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Grayson’s lawyer, Daniel Fultz, confirmed that his client died earlier Sunday to The New York Times and The Associated Press but declined to provide any further details.

Grayson, 32, was convicted of second-degree murder in October in the fatal shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman who had reported a possible prowler outside her Springfield-area home. Body camera video of the July 2024 encounter showed Massey crouching in her kitchen and apologizing moments before Grayson shot her in the face.

Grayson was sentenced in January to the maximum 20 years in prison and he was six months into serving his sentence in an Illinois prison before he died.

The ex-deputy had been diagnosed with colon cancer before Massey’s killing and his lawyers said at his sentencing that the disease had spread to his liver and lungs.

In May, Grayson requested medical release under an Illinois law for prisoners with terminal illnesses or serious medical conditions, according to a copy of his application published by Capitol News Illinois.

In a letter to the board opposing Grayson’s release, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said the former deputy’s medical condition was already considered at sentencing.

“To release Grayson under these circumstances would be a miscarriage of justice,” he wrote, “and an insult to Sonya Massey’s memory and family.”

By July, a three-member Illinois Review Board voted unanimously to deny his request for early medical release.

Massey called 911 early on July 6, 2024, to report someone prowling outside her home. Grayson and another Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy responded.

Sheriff’s body cam video showed Grayson telling Massey to remove a pot of hot water from the stove. She held the pot and told the deputies, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Grayson threatened to shoot Massey and drew his gun before ordering her to drop the pot again.

Massey apologized and ducked behind a kitchen counter before Grayson fired his handgun three times.

Grayson was fired after the shooting and charged with first-degree murder. Jurors convicted him of the lesser charge of second-degree murder after Grayson argued that he feared Massey would throw the hot water at him.