Family of Sonya Massey reacts to settlement over deadly Illinois police shooting
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS/AP) -- The family of Sonya Massey spoke out Wednesday after their $10 million settlement with Sangamon County, Illinois was officially approved.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters the settlement, approved Tuesday night by the Sangamon County Board, is poignant — particularly because Massey would have turned 37 on Wednesday and because a criminal trial and legislative changes await.
"It is bittersweet," Crump said in an online news conference. "This is our first step in getting full justice for Sonya Massey. ... We want civil accountability, criminal culpability and we want legislative changes. We want the laws to prevent something like this from happening again."
Massey, 36, was shot and killed by a Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy in her home near Springfield on July 6, 2024.
Just minutes after Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson, 30, and other officers responded to Massey's 911 call about a potential prowler outside her home, Grayson shot and killed Massey in her kitchen when she checked on a pot of boiling water in her own kitchen while saying, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus."
Grayson later said he felt threatened by Massey and the boiling water she had on her stove, but he was fired from the sheriff's office and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery, and official misconduct in Massey's death. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and remains in jail, but is fighting in court to be released from custody while he awaits trial.
Joining Crump, his associates and family members Wednesday was state Rep. Justin Slaughter, a Chicago Democrat who has introduced legislation to provide more accountability to the hiring of police officers in part by ensuring their records at previous departments are fully disclosed. Grayson worked for six police departments in four years and had some disciplinary and legal problems.
"My heart is heavy today," said Massey's father, James Wilburn, who thanked Slaughter and Springfield Democratic state Sen. Doris Turner for their legislation to rein in "frequent flyers who go from one department to another" so "no one else would have to feel the kind of hurt that we are feeling today."
The Sangamon County Sheriff's Office agreed last month to be monitored by the U.S. Justice Department for two years, but the future of that agreement is uncertain. Civil rights agreements reached at the end of the Biden administration are now under review by officials in President Trump's Justice Department.
Meantime, a coalition of county board members have sent a letter to the Massey Commission – a citizens' panel formed in response to Massey's murder – requesting they ask the Illinois Attorney General or Illinois State Police to investigate the Sangamon County Sheriff's office, saying they don't believe the Justice Department agreement is adequate or will be enforced. The commission will address that request at their next meeting on Feb. 10.
