{"id":70168,"date":"2026-08-25T14:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/70168\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T14:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:09:18","slug":"sonya-masseys-family-feel-robbed-of-true-justice-after-cop-who-murdered-her-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/70168\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonya Massey’s family feel robbed of ‘true justice’ after cop who murdered her dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonya Massey\u2019s family believes they were robbed of \u201ctrue justice\u201d after former Illinois sheriff\u2019s deputy Sean Grayson<\/a>, who was convicted in her murder, died of colon cancer just six months into a 20-year prison term.<\/p>\n

Her cousin, Sontae Massey, said they weren\u2019t even directly notified Grayson, 32, had died, and had to read about it online.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us are OK,\u201d Sontae told TMZ.<\/p>\n

This booking photo shows Sean Grayson on July 17, 2024, in Springfield, Ill. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not what justice looks like to us,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t think any black American can achieve true justice. I think we got as good as we could get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sontae claimed the family had difficulties getting information since Grayson\u2019s trial began.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue justice would be serving his full time. Sick or not,\u201d he said of Grayson, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer months before the fatal shooting.<\/p>\n

Sontae informed Sonya\u2019s mother<\/a>, son and daughter of the news \u2014 and they didn\u2019t believe him at first, he said, adding: \u201cThey want to see his body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grayson shot and killed Sonya in July 2024 after she called 911 to report a prowler.<\/p>\n

Donna Massey (C) wipes tears from her face as she listens to Rev. Al Sharpton speak during a news conference on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Chicago. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Chicago Sun-Times via AP<\/p>\n

Grayson on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Macon County, Ill. Macon County Jail via AP<\/p>\n

When Grayson entered her home, Sonya was standing at her stove, and he ordered her to remove a pot of hot water from the burner.<\/p>\n

She picked up the pot, and told the responding deputies, \u201cI rebuke you in the name of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grayson drew his service pistol and threatened to shoot her. Sonya apologized and ducked behind her kitchen counter before Grayson fired three times, one shot striking the mother of two in the face.<\/p>\n

He was convicted on second-degree murder charges<\/a> last October.<\/p>\n

Sonya Massey talks with Sangamon County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Sean Grayson outside her home in Springfield, Ill., in this image from body camera video released on Monday, July 22, 2024. Illinois State Police via AP<\/p>\n

Grayson, left, points his gun at Sonya Massey, who called 911 for help, before shooting and killing her inside her home in Springfield, Ill., July 6, 2024. Illinois State Police via AP<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said this week that \u201cSonya Massey\u2019s death was unjustifiable and she should be alive today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSean Grayson\u2019s death in custody from cancer does not bring Sonya back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish his family prayers of peace, as we do for all who grieve a loved one. Sonya\u2019s family knows that pain all too well and will grieve her loss the rest of their days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sonya Massey\u2019s family believes they were robbed of \u201ctrue justice\u201d after former Illinois sheriff\u2019s deputy Sean Grayson, who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[1400,1956,8,9,6921,1577,36324,7,1250],"class_list":["post-70168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-cancer","tag-deaths","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-police-shootings","tag-prisons","tag-racial-discrimination","tag-top-stories","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/117156548602984368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}