Sean Grayson will stay in jail a minimum of one other 35 days due to a ruling Dec. 3 by the 4th District of the Illinois Appellate Court docket.
In an unsigned order, the Springfield-based 4th District stated it can give State’s Lawyer John Milhiser till early January to attraction the Appellate Court docket’s Nov. 27 order calling on authorities to launch Grayson with situations.
Grayson’s launch might have come as quickly as Dec. 5, however the Dec. 3 ruling apparently will get rid of the necessity for a Dec. 5 Circuit Court docket listening to to find out his pretrial launch situations.
Milhiser, by way of the State’s Lawyer’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Workplace, filed paperwork Dec. 2 asking for a delay in Grayson’s launch whereas he asks the Illinois Supreme Court docket for an extended delay so the excessive courtroom can think about and probably overturn the Appellate Court docket’s Nov. 27 determination.
The unanimous Nov. 27 ruling from a three-judge panel of Appellate Court docket justices stated Sangamon County Circuit Court docket Decide Ryan Cadagin erred when he denied launch for Grayson in mid-July.
Grayson, 30, a Riverton resident and former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, is charged with first-degree homicide, official misconduct and aggravated battery with a firearm within the July 6 capturing demise of Sonya Massey in her Woodside Township house.
The Appellate Court docket stated in its Dec. 3 determination that it might, however won’t, delay Grayson’s launch till proceedings in entrance of the Supreme Court docket are accomplished.
Grayson had been ordered detained by Cadagin since Grayson was arrested and indicted by a grand jury in mid-July in a case that has acquired nationwide media consideration. Grayson, who’s present process remedy for colon most cancers, is being held on the Macon County Jail.
A unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel from the Appellate Court docket’s 4th District on Nov. 27 stated Cadagin erred in denying pretrial launch for Grayson, who was captured on police body-worn video capturing Massey, 36, a Black girl, within the head within the kitchen of her house.
The Appellate Court docket panel’s ruling by Republican justices Eugene Doherty of the Rockford space, James Knecht of Regular and Craig DeArmond of Danville stated county prosecutors did not introduce “clear and convincing proof” that Grayson would pose a hazard to the neighborhood, even when he have been launched with sure situations.
One among Grayson’s attorneys, Mark Wykoff, stated he was relieved by the ruling and stated he and co-counsel Daniel Fultz made their arguments for launch “primarily based on truth, primarily based on legislation.”
Wykoff stated he was hopeful earlier than the Nov. 27 ruling that “three impartial, dispassionate, goal judges that have been unbiased, that weren’t clouded by emotion, that weren’t clouded by public notion, would apply these information to the legislation and are available to a simply conclusion, which they did right here.”
Cadagin beforehand dominated that Grayson, who knew or ought to have identified he was being videotaped, violated his oath as a sworn officer and disregarded his coaching by capturing Massey, who was unarmed. Due to this fact, the decide stated, Grayson was “not a great candidate to be in compliance” with any situations of pretrial launch.
Cadagin additionally stated Grayson’s conduct main as much as and together with the capturing, in addition to derogatory language Grayson utilized in reference to Massey instantly after the capturing, “are such a departure from the essential expectations of civil society that they’re proof of the defendant’s dangerousness and in addition that he couldn’t adjust to situations.”
As well as, courtroom information point out an Illinois State Police investigation of the incident decided the capturing of Massey was unjustified.
Nonetheless, the panel agreed with Grayson’s attorneys who argued that Cadagin decided, in error, that “situations of launch … can be insufficient to mitigate the menace posed to the security of the neighborhood.”
The potential situations of launch, based on the ruling, included “not working as a legislation enforcement officer, house confinement, digital location monitoring and the elimination of firearms from his house.”
The Appellate Court docket panel stated it was “inappropriate to dwell” on how Grayson allegedly violated his law-enforcement oath in Cadagin’s determination to detain Grayson. That is as a result of Grayson not was a police officer, the panel stated.
Massey’s father, James Wilburn of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, known as the ruling “a severe miscarriage of justice.”
Milhiser, a Republican, requested that the Appellate Court docket delay Grayson’s pretrial launch as a result of the case is “high-profile” and his launch would create “a excessive chance of societal upheaval.”
In response, an legal professional for Grayson requested the courtroom to show down Milhiser’s request. “All defendants, high-profile or not, are to be handled equally underneath the legislation,” the legal professional wrote. “Moreover, certainly this courtroom was nicely conscious of the ‘high-profile’ nature of the case when it issued the choice.”
Milhiser blamed the Pretrial Equity Act, which abolished bail all through Illinois on Sept. 18, 2024, for creating the chance for Grayson to be freed whereas he awaits a trial.
Milhiser has known as for modifications within the legislation to present judges extra discretion in contemplating whether or not to launch or detain defendants whereas they await trial.
“The SAFE-T Act has made it much less secure in communities throughout Illinois,” Milhiser stated in a press release. “Beneath the brief timeframe required underneath the act, we filed a petition to detain Sean Grayson, together with related out there info, and made applicable arguments on the (July 18) listening to. We agree with the Circuit Court docket’s dedication that defendant Grayson poses a menace to the neighborhood that can not be mitigated with situations, and he needs to be detained whereas his case progresses.”
The Illinois Community for Pretrial Justice, which helps the SAFE-T Act and backed the elimination of money bail, issued a press release that stated the community is disenchanted to see Milhiser blaming the legislation for Grayson’s potential launch.
The community stated that earlier than the SAFE-T Act, police charged with homicide in reference to their official duties usually have been capable of submit bail and be launched earlier than trial.
“The Pretrial Equity Act has ensured that entry to cash is not the primary issue figuring out who can return to the neighborhood whereas awaiting trial,” the assertion stated. “To ensure that the courtroom to order detention, prosecutors should show that a person poses a threat to neighborhood security or is prone to deliberately evade prosecution.”
Although the assertion stopped wanting condemning the Appellate Court docket ruling, the community additionally stated: “It’s sadly unsurprising {that a} police officer accused of this heinous act of violence towards a Black girl is given the advantage of a cautious, thorough assessment of the trial courtroom’s detention determination. … When police are criminally charged, courtroom programs have at all times offered ‘extra justice’ than that given to the on a regular basis individuals – disproportionately Black and Latine – who make up the overwhelming majority of individuals prosecuted.”
Earlier than Illinois abolished money bail, it was uncommon in Sangamon County for individuals charged with homicide to be free whereas awaiting trial. Judges usually set bail at $1 million or extra, that means defendants needed to submit 10%, or a minimum of $100,000, to realize launch.
For the reason that Pretrial Equity Act took impact, a number of defendants, together with former LifeStar Ambulance workers Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan, charged with first-degree homicide within the suffocation demise of Earl Moore Jr. of Springfield in December 2022, have benefited from the legislation, both by having bail refunded or not having to submit bail to realize pretrial launch.
Teresa Haley, former president of the Springfield department of the NAACP, stated they consider the Pretrial Equity Act must be tweaked by the legislature to stop defendants equivalent to Grayson from being launched pretrial.
The act, which Haley supported when it was handed, was supposed to profit poor, Black and different “disenfranchised” individuals charged with low-level crimes who used to sit down in jail for months as a result of they could not afford bail, she stated.
“Now it is getting used for everybody, and in a case like this, it is horrible,” Haley stated.
