Sean Grayson will stay in prison after board rejects medical release request

Sean Grayson, a former Sangamon County sheriff's deputy convicted of second-degree murder, will remain in prison after the Illinois Prisoner Review Board denied his bid for medical release. Grayson is currently serving a 20-year sentence for the 2024 killing of Sonya Massey.

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The Prisoner Review Board made the right decision and reaffirmed the jury's verdict and the sentence the court imposed.

Grayson filed for release in May under the Joe Coleman Act, citing symptoms of advanced colon cancer. He maintained that Massey attacked him with boiling water and did not express remorse in his application. While a state-appointed medical professional determined Grayson was likely to die within 18 months, the final decision rested with the Prisoner Review Board.

Attorneys for Massey's family, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, praised the board's decision. They stated, "The Prisoner Review Board made the right decision and reaffirmed the jury's verdict and the sentence the court imposed," adding that "a badge does not provide an early way out."

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a badge does not provide an early way out.

Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser had also urged the board to deny the release, arguing in a letter that Grayson had cancer when he committed the murder and that the illness was considered during sentencing. Milhiser called the release request "a miscarriage of justice and an insult to Sonya Massey's memory and family."

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Grayson already had cancer when he committed the murder and that the illness was explicitly weighed at sentencing, calling release 'a miscarriage of justice and an insult to Sonya Massey's memory and family.'

Massey's family also voiced their opposition to Grayson's potential release. Her cousin, Sontae Massey, previously told Capitol News Illinois that Grayson "has to pay for what he did."

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has to pay for what he did.