Update at 7 p.m.
John Milhiser, the Sangamon County State’s Attorney, has issued a statement following the decision of an appellate court to overturn Sean Grayson’s pretrial detention.
“I spoke to the family of Sonya Massey today after the opinion was released and told them that the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office remains committed to seeking the continued pretrial detention of Sean Grayson,” Milhiser said. “Defendant Grayson has demonstrated that he cannot comply with conditions and is a danger to the community after his inexcusable actions on July 6, 2024, when he shot Sonya Massey.”
Milhiser said his office will be filing an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court and will also request that Grayson remain in custody pending that appeal.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — An Illinois appellate court has ruled that Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy accused of killing Sonya Massey, should be released from jail pretrial.
Grayson is facing charges of first-degree murder for killing the 36-year-old woman in her home the morning of July 6. He was denied pretrial release, which Grayson appealed.
His lawyers claimed that the state had failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that Grayson “poses a threat to the safety of individuals or to the community which no condition of release can dispel.” These are two factors that the state must prove when filing petitions to deny defendants pretrial release.
The trial court ruled that the state did prove its burden. However, the Appellate court came to five conclusions that they said contributed to the trial court’s error in detaining Grayon pretrial:
Training
“Although the trial court emphasized that defendant was a trained officer who ‘had
gone through personally hours of training,’ there is no evidence in the record concerning
defendant’s training or how it was violated.”
Grayson’s oath
“Irrespective of what obligations bound defendant while he was a sworn officer, however, the
evidence showed that at the time of the hearing, defendant was no longer a law enforcement officer subject to any oath; there was no way, then, that he could violate those obligations again if released.”
“Basic norms of public safety”
“In its detention order, the trial court found that defendant ‘directed law enforcement
not to render aid, which is counter to basic norms of public safety’ … On pretrial release, defendant will not be able to issue directives to other law enforcement officers or fall short in providing assistance when acting in a law enforcement role.”
Body camera requirements
“The trial court found that defendant failed to comply with statutory body camera
requirements by activating the video immediately before the shooting and the audio immediately after the shooting. Presumably, the court was attempting to analogize (Grayson’s) compliance with body camera regulations and his possible future compliance with GPS monitoring if ordered by the court. This is a strained connection; if (Grayson) is fitted with a GPS monitoring device, it will not be up to him to activate it.”
“Supervision From Law Enforcement”
“The trial court described the other deputy’s accompanying of defendant as ‘supervision from law enforcement.’ However, there is no indication that the other deputy had a supervisory role over (Grayson); indeed, the court seems to have believed that the opposite was true, faulting (Grayson) for directing the other deputy not to render aid to Massey.”
After striking down the trial court’s ruling, the appellate court justices ordered that the lower court schedule a hearing to set “the least restrictive conditions of (Grayson’s) pretrial release.”
Grayson is due back in Sangamon County court on Monday for a status hearing that had been scheduled to give the appellate court more time to make its ruling.