Massey attorney: Changes to law would help ID ‘red flags’ before deputy’s hiring

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Police officers in Illinois would be subjected to more comprehensive background checks and be required to wait 45 days between changing agencies under legislative changes pushed by prominent attorneys and the family of Sonya Massey in the wake of her shooting death by a sheriff’s deputy.

Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci on Wednesday said that modifying Illinois’ SAFE-T Act to include the changes would have prevented the hiring of Sean Grayson to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, describing Grayson as a “ticking time bomb” that “literally exploded and caused a needless life to be lost.”

Grayson in the early morning hours of July 6 fatally shot Sonya Massey after the 36-year-old Springfield woman called 911 seeking help with a suspected prowler outside her home.

The now former deputy was vetted and approved for hiring by Sangamon County in May 2023 despite two drunk-driving convictions, the first of which got him ejected from the Army for “serious misconduct,” and having six jobs in four years , including as a sheriff’s deputy in Logan County, where he was reprimanded for ignoring a command to end a high-speed chase and ended up hitting a deer.

Sangamon County officials have told WGN they were aware of Grayson’s DUIs due to required background checks but added that according to their knowledge, Grayson had not been terminated from any previous jobs.

The attorneys on Wednesday also again called for Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The act would require implicit bias training for police and increased vetting to ensure bad actors aren’t rehired, and it would create a national database that Illinois could access to better identify red flags in hiring officers. Romanucci said red flags could include DUI convictions, infractions to policing policy or using “excessive force or unnecessary profane language” on a citizen.

“We want to stop any police officer that does not deserve to wear a uniform or carry a badge,” he said.

The ACLU has also urged Congress to reconsider the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. An executive order was signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 to advance the police reform bill after it was blocked by Senate Republicans but it hasn’t gone anywhere. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is among a group of lawmakers reintroducing the bill.

The executive director of the National Sheriff’s Association called Massey’s killing tragic. In an interview with Nexstar’s NewsNation, Jonathon Thompson said reforms proposed in the bill could undermine police safety but said he’s open to revisiting it.

“Here’s the salient point: justice can work when there’s transparency,” he said.

Wednesday’s press conference was the first since Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell announced his resignation amid outcry over Massey’s killing and scrutiny over Grayson’s hiring, a development the attorneys and Massey’s survivors praised.

“The family wants to take him at word that he will continue to help heal the community and help get justice for Sonya Massey,” Crump said of Campbell.

Campbell said he would step down by the end of the month.

At a meeting in Sangamon County Tuesday, one person after another called for an independent investigation and more funds dedicated to train officers on how to handle mental health crises.

Grayson was fired from the department shortly after Massey’s death and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He’s pleaded not guilty and is being held in the Sangamon County Jail without bond. If convicted, he faces prison sentences of 45 years to life for murder, six to 30 years for battery, and two to five years for misconduct.

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