A jury has found former Sangamon County deputy Sean Grayson guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal 2024 police shooting of Sonya Massey, a verdict the Massey family is calling “partial justice.”
The decision, delivered Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2025, comes after months of emotional testimony and public outrage over the killing of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman whose death reignited conversations about accountability and the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
Grayson had faced three counts of first-degree murder, charges that could have carried a life sentence. Instead, jurors opted for the lesser charge of second-degree murder — a conviction that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison under Illinois law.
We lost Sonya, but they lost a son
The courtroom was filled with both grief and humanity on Wednesday, as families from opposite sides of the tragedy faced one another. Civil rights advocate Teresa Haley, who has been a leading voice for the Massey family, shared with CBS News that Grayson’s mother personally apologized to Massey’s family during the trial.
“She came over and apologized,” Haley recalled. “She said, ‘We did not raise him that way, and I’m really sorry for your family.’ My heart goes out to them. We lost Sonya, but they lost a son. And what he did to Sonya, he has to pay.”
Haley described the moment as unexpectedly compassionate, even amid months of anguish and division in the courtroom.
“There was one point it didn’t look like I was going to get in,” Haley told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan. “And Grayson’s mom said, ‘You can come in on our list.’ Because she felt sorry for us. She wanted to offer condolences.”
Haley said the interaction was a sobering reminder of shared humanity, even between those divided by unimaginable loss.
“They’re human as well,” she said. “We raise our children, but we don’t know how they’re going to turn out. And this is the worst-case example of how a child can turn out — a monster.”
A verdict that leaves questions
While the guilty verdict represents a rare conviction of a law enforcement officer in a police-involved killing, the Massey family says justice still feels incomplete.
Grayson’s reduced charge, and the resulting sentence cap, has sparked frustration among activists and community members who hoped the jury would convict him of first-degree murder.
For many, the case highlights the ongoing struggle to hold officers fully accountable in fatal shootings involving unarmed Black civilians.
The broader picture
The killing of Sonya Massey came amid ongoing national debates about police reform and the use of force. Legal experts note that while second-degree murder convictions against officers are significant, they often reflect juries’ reluctance to ascribe intent in high-pressure policing scenarios — even when the evidence suggests excessive force.
Still, the case underscores a slow but growing shift: law enforcement officers are facing criminal convictions at higher rates when deadly force is deemed unjustified.
