Wednesday would have been Sonya Massey’s 37th birthday. Instead, it was the day her family’s lawyers announced a $10 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against Sangamon County and Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sangamon County Board approved the settlement on Tuesday, seven months after a deputy shot the unarmed woman in her home near Springfield
The Massey family and their attorneys, Benjamin Crump and Antonio Romanucci, released a statement following the announcement: “The settlement reached by civil attorneys for the senseless death of Sonya Massey brings some measure of accountability and closure to those who loved her. But nothing can remove the persistent pain, frustration and grief caused by her senseless death.”
In the early morning hours of July 6, Massey called 911 to report a prowler outside her home, setting in motion events that left Massey dying on her kitchen floor and former Sangamon County Deputy Sean Grayson facing charges of first-degree murder.
In the days before, Massey was the subject of calls to police, including one from her mother about a mental breakdown; she told police Massey was acting like a “paranoid schizophrenic.” Dispatchers who sent Grayson to the home didn’t relay that information and previous contacts with police and mental health professionals.
Grayson’s employment record came under scrutiny after the shooting, including that he had worked for six departments in four years and had two convictions for driving under the influence.
A Capitol News Illinois investigation also found the county hired other deputies with previous convictions for driving under the influence, including one who was involved in a single-car crash with a loaded gun and an alcohol level three times the legal limit while off duty from his job at another police department. He continues to work for the sheriff’s office.
Grayson was fired after he was charged. He remains in Macon County Jail, awaiting an Illinois Supreme Court decision on his pretrial release. The trial court ordered him to remain in custody, but an appellate court later directed a reassessment of his threat to the public as a private citizen, rather than a police officer. Prosecutors appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which agreed to review the decision.
Jack Campbell, the former Sangamon County sheriff, announced he would retire after repeated requests for his resignation, including from Gov. JB Pritzker. Sangamon County then appointed the first woman to hold the sheriff’s office – Paula Crouch.
In the days following Massey’s death, Crump urged Illinois legislators to take action, prompting bills sponsored by Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, and Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago. The bills call for more robust background checks and greater sharing of law enforcement applicants’ work and personal history.
“Sonya’s family believes that this type of background check would have raised numerous concerns about the officer who would later take her life, and in creating a more thorough hiring process in Illinois that tragedies like Sonya’s can be prevented,” according to Wednesday’s statement.
The state also continues to test protocols and run pilot programs to implement the Community Emergency Services and Supports Act, or CESSA. The law requires mental health professionals, rather than police, to respond to 911 calls seeking help with mental and behavioral health concerns. The law was supposed to go into effect on July 1, 2022, but the deadline has been extended three times, as the Illinois Department of Human Services, State Police and multiple other agencies work through the logistics. It is currently set to go into effect July 1, 2025 – just days before the first anniversary of Massey’s death.
“The use of deadly force during that encounter is as stunning as it is deeply, deeply sad,” the family’s statement said. “It is the hope of Sonya’s family that her death can bring change, and that the community will continue to say her name so no one ever needlessly losses their life again when all they are asking for is help.”
Editor’s note: This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
