Cancer-stricken ex-deputy denied medical release in Sonya Massey killing
Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in 2024, was denied medical release from a 20-year sentence by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board in a 3-0 vote. Grayson sought release under the Joe Coleman Act after a cancer diagnosis progressed to Stage 4; a medical evaluator found the cancer irreversible and likely to kill him within 18 months, though he was not deemed medically incapacitated. Prosecutors opposed release, citing that he remains a danger to the public, and Massey’s family opposed granting clemency. Grayson’s actions—shooting Massey after she confronted him with a boiling-water pot and reportedly showing little remorse—are central to the case, and he remains incarcerated.