Emergency motion to Supreme Court asks Grayson hearing be set by circuit court
The State Appellate Defender Friday morning filed an emergency motion with the Illinois Supreme Court asking for a supervisory order directing the Fourth District Appellate Court remand the hearing of a former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy charged with murder back to the circuit court.
Friday's request comes with directions that the lower court "set the case for a hearing to determine the least restrictive conditions of (Grayson's) pre-trial release."
The 30-year-old Sean P. Grayson is accused in the July 6 fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two children, who had called 911 about a possible prowler around her home in an unincorporated Springfield neighborhood.
More: 'I don't ever want to see him walk free': Sonya Massey supporters rally, want Grayson detained
On Tuesday, the appellate court stayed a motion filed through the State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, moving Grayson's hearing to Jan. 2, 2025.
A three-justice panel opinion from the appellate court on Nov. 27 asked the circuit court to set the hearing for conditions of Grayson's release. That hearing was set for Friday before the stay was granted.
Circuit Court Presiding Judge Ryan Cadagin twice ordered Grayson to be detained under the Pre-Trial Fairness Act, part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T Act, but the panel ruled the lower court had been in error.
The State's motion Monday indicated that Grayson' release could lead to "a high likelihood of societal upheaval" and "leave the citizens of Illinois with diminished confidence in the criminal justice system."
An objection to the State's motion to stay the mandate argued that there weren't "compelling reasons" to hold Grayson.
Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser, in asking the Supreme Court asking it take up the appellate court decision, said in a news release that Grayson had demonstrated that he "cannot comply with conditions and is a danger to the community."
Among "conditions" for Grayson's release are home confinement and some sort monitoring system.
The defense appeal on Friday comes after family members and other supporters of Massey gathered for a press conference and rally in the Illinois Capitol Rotunda.
James Wilburn, the father of Massey who lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, said the Supreme Court should keep Grayson detained "as long as I have breath in my body."
Wilburn added that attempts to release Grayson under the SAFE-T Act was "a bastardization" of the act "to keep low-level criminals, who could not afford a bond that was set, (out of jail). (Grayson) has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two other felonies."
In a written statement read by his fiancée, Margaritta Fultz, Sontae Massey, the first cousin of Sonya Massey, said the appellate court's ruling was "payback, in my humble opinion, for passing the SAFE-T Act."
Milhiser and some supporters of Massey, like Teresa Haley of Haley & Associates of Springfield, said they would like to see provisions of the SAFE-T Act, which was passed in 2021, changed or tweaked.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: State Appellate Defender for Sean P. Grayson files emergency motion
