Attorneys for Sonya Massey’s family call for legislative change

Members of Sonya Massey’s family and their attorneys called a news conference Wednesday to push for federal and state legislation in the wake of Massey’s shooting.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump called former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson “a ticking time bomb waiting to explode,” but also blamed a system that failed to heed red flags in Grayson’s past. Grayson held six law enforcement jobs in four years; underwent disciplinary counseling for failing to follow a superior’s order, insubordination and inaccurate report writing; was charged with two driving under the influence convictions; and received a general discharge from the military.

“Blood is on the hands of the system as well as Sean Grayson’s,” Crump said. 

The system should document red flags of prospective officers for law enforcement employers, Crump said, to ensure the safety of citizens. He said he intends to lobby for the passage of federal legislation, such as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which in part creates a national database to compile complaints and misconduct against police officers.  and misconduct against police officers. 

He further said he would push to include such provisions in Illinois law, including a waiting period for officers changing jobs to ensure background checks and criminal history checks are fully complete before they begin.

Last week, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell announced his retirement at the end of the month after questions about Grayson’s hiring emerged, though Campbell characterized his response to the shooting as “proactive and transparent.” 

James Wilburn, Sonya Massey’s father, said he was pleased at Campbell’s announcement. 

“I’m glad that he has been man enough to fall on his sword as he should have,” Wilburn said. “The buck should stop with him. He hired the folks to do this background investigation which was woefully inadequate. This man should have never carried a badge and gun in any county, not only Sangamon County.”

At a nearly four-hour Sangamon County Board meeting Tuesday night, questions were raised concerning hiring and training of deputies. There were also calls for an independent review of the sheriff’s office.

Chet Epperson, an expert in police practices and retired Rockford police chief with 33 years of law enforcement experience, told Capitol News Illinois such a review could restore the public’s confidence in the agency, but it should have been started immediately following the incident. 

As soon as the shooting happened, the sheriff’s office should have begun an administrative review of the whole event, Epperson said. That includes the tactics, hiring, training, supervision and policies. Such an investigation would be independent of the criminal investigation by the Illinois State Police. 

“It doesn’t end with Campbell’s announcement that he’s retiring. There are others who did the work,” Epperson said. “If no one does anything at the sheriff’s office, and the criminal case and civil case take three years to go to trial, and there’s no look to see what went wrong, then nothing changes. That’s awful. That’s not fair to the other employees at the sheriff’s office or the people of Sangamon County.”

The sheriff’s office continues to avoid questions related to hiring and background checks. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the department declined the release of hiring lists, stating that it had no responsive documents. 

But the release of Grayson’s personnel files earlier this month did reveal some omissions during the background check, including a failure to interview Grayson’s direct supervisors at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, where he previously worked.

Last month, Logan County released a 2 ½ hour recording of a disciplinary hearing that addressed Grayson’s insubordination, inaccurate police reports and failure to terminate a high-speed pursuit after his supervisor ordered it.

Read more: Grayson’s behavior in Logan County led superior to ask, ‘How are you still employed with us?’

There were no notes included in Sangamon County’s background check that included an interview of Grayson’s direct supervisor or the chief deputy in Logan County. The investigator only noted a conversation with a co-worker who Grayson gave as a reference.

Grayson also gave a longtime friend who worked as an Illinois State Police trooper and former Sangamon County Deputy Scott Butterfield – the father of Grayson’s fiancé – as references.

Grayson was hired by six law enforcement agencies in four years, despite having two convictions for driving under the influence. Driving under the influence is not currently a disqualifying offense for certification as a police officer, but Crump pointed out it should have been a red flag in the hiring process.

Grayson was also given a general discharge under honorable conditions from the military. His discharge papers show that he was released before completing his term for “misconduct.”

A little more than a year after he was hired by Sangamon County, on July 6, Grayson responded to a call about a prowler at a white frame house on a quiet street just outside Springfield. Less than 15 minutes after meeting Massey at her front door, body camera video shows Grayson firing three shots at the unarmed woman in her kitchen after a dispute over a pot of boiling liquid. 

He is jailed in Menard County awaiting trial on murder and other charges.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.