{"id":43365,"date":"2026-07-31T16:25:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T21:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=43365"},"modified":"2026-07-31T16:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T21:31:11","slug":"illinois-prisoner-review-board-denies-early-release-for-sean-grayson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/43365-illinois-prisoner-review-board-denies-early-release-for-sean-grayson\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Prisoner Review Board Denies Early Release for Sean Grayson"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Protesters outside the Illinois Prisoner Review Board Building in Springfield call for rejecting early release former Sangamon County sheriff&#8217;s deputy Sean Grayson (Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter Hancock)<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Sangamon County Sheriff\u2019s deputy serving 20 years for death of Sonya Massey<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By PETER HANCOCK<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"mailto:phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Article Summary<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted unanimously Friday to deny former Sangamon County Sheriff&#8217;s Deputy Sean Grayson\u2019s application for compassionate release.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder for the 2024 killing of Sonya Massey.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Massey&#8217;s family and the state&#8217;s attorney who prosecuted Grayson opposed the release, arguing the judge took Grayson&#8217;s health into account when sentencing him.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SPRINGFIELD \u2013 Former Sangamon County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Sean Grayson will remain in prison, at least for the time being.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted unanimously Friday to deny Grayson\u2019s application for compassionate release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grayson is serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder for the 2024 killing of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman who had called authorities to report a possible prowler outside her home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He had <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/sean-grayson-seeking-medical-release-from-his-murder-sentence-still-maintains-sonya-massey-attacked-him\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">applied for release<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under Illinois\u2019 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/prb.illinois.gov\/medical-release-joe-coleman-act.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joe Coleman Act<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, citing his diagnosis of advanced cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the PRB denied that request following a hearing at which members of Massey\u2019s family testified. They argued that Grayson\u2019s condition was taken into account when he was sentenced in October and that he continues to show no remorse for his actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI believe he received a compassionate sentence from the jury because of his condition,\u201d Sontae Massey, Sonya\u2019s cousin, told the review board. \u201cBut what about Sonya? She was condemned to the grave by this man and has no review board to grant her her God-given earthly life back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Wilburn, Massey\u2019s father, also said he did not believe Grayson deserved early release.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPeople have said to me, you know, \u2018He&#8217;s dying. Maybe as an act of compassion, he should be able to die amongst his family and friends,\u2019\u201d Wilburn said. \u201cMy baby didn&#8217;t have a chance to die amongst her family and friends.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Massey\u2019s murder<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Massey was shot and killed in her home on July 6, 2024, after calling 911 to report a possible prowler on her property.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/bodycam-video-shows-sonya-masseys-last-minutes-deputys-coarse-description\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">police reports and body cam video<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> presented in court, Grayson and another deputy responded to the scene but found no evidence of a prowler. While talking with Massey inside her home, Grayson asked her to remove a pot of boiling water from her stove. She did, but while moving the pot, she said to one of the officers, \u201cI rebuke you in the name of Jesus.\u201d Grayson then shot her three times, claiming later that Massey was about to attack him with the boiling water.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Grayson-MR0510.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">application for release<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Grayson repeated that claim and expressed no remorse for his actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">John Milhiser, the Sangamon County state\u2019s attorney whose office prosecuted Grayson, argued against his release in a letter. He argued that Grayson had cancer when he shot Massey and the judge knew about his worsening condition when he sentenced him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHis temper and willingness to escalate minor misunderstandings into fatal encounters shows that he poses a danger to any person he comes into contact with,\u201d Milhiser wrote in the letter. \u201cTo release Grayson under these circumstances would be a miscarriage of justice and an insult to Sonya Massey\u2019s memory and family.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Massey\u2019s killing drew statewide and national attention because it touched on many critical issues confronting law enforcement, including race relations, how officers respond to people experiencing mental illness, and how officers are screened and trained for their jobs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also led to the resignation of former Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who came under heavy criticism for hiring Grayson despite his troubled employment history with other law enforcement agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Grayson\u2019s history, response<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/graysons-behavior-in-logan-county-led-superior-to-ask-how-are-you-still-employed-with-us\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that before Grayson was hired in Sangamon County, he had worked at the Logan County Sheriff\u2019s Department where he was repeatedly admonished for poor performance and inappropriate behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tragedy also occurred four years after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which set off riots and protests across the country. And both of those killings were just part of a long string of killings of unarmed Black people at the hands of white police officers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>(DONNA MASSEY)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-43366 additional-class\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donna-massey.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1140\" height=\"758\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donna-massey.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donna-massey-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donna-massey-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donna-massey-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI&#8217;ve noticed that it&#8217;s getting rampant with Black people being pulled over for being Black, even while they&#8217;re walking or standing in their yard,\u201d Donna Massey, Sonya\u2019s mother, said at a news conference following Friday\u2019s hearing. \u201cIt&#8217;s getting rampant. It&#8217;s not getting any better. So we do need to make Sean Grayson an example, because everybody keeps getting away with murder, and that&#8217;s why they keep doing it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Massey\u2019s killing prompted Illinois lawmakers to pass legislation in 2025 requiring law enforcement agencies to conduct more extensive background checks on prospective officers. That includes requesting copies of personnel files from the applicant\u2019s previous employers. The law also requires law enforcement agencies to provide those records upon request from another agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In February 2025, the Sangamon County Board approved paying <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/massey-attorneys-announce-10-million-settlement-in-wrongful-death-case\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$10 million to settle a wrongful death claim<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> brought by Massey\u2019s family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Massey\u2019s family expressed relief Friday after the PRB voted to deny Grayson\u2019s petition for release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov. JB Pritzker also released a statement praising the board\u2019s decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSonya Massey\u2019s family and loved ones remain in my thoughts today,\u201d he said in the statement. \u201cHer killing was a profound loss that can never be reversed. Sonya was innocent, unarmed, and calling law enforcement for help. It was a painful reminder that too many innocent Black Americans have faced this kind of violence \u2014 and they deserve justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sontae Massey said during the news conference after the hearing that his cousin\u2019s death helped bring people in the Springfield community together to work for racial justice. But he said the Massey family, and the community at large, still have not healed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think we&#8217;re on the right track, but there&#8217;s more to be done,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we will continue to work as long as there&#8217;s the specter of Sean Grayson, or anyone else that perpetrates these crimes, has the ability to get out on early release or just harm our community. So we will be out there working diligently.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the law, Grayson can reapply for release at any time, as many times as he wants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protesters outside the Illinois Prisoner Review Board Building in Springfield call for rejecting early release former Sangamon County sheriff&#8217;s deputy Sean Grayson (Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter Hancock) Former [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":43368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois Prisoner Review Board Denies Early Release for Sean Grayson - 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