Grayson’s background ruled irrelevant for trial

Jurors at former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson’s murder trial won’t hear potentially disturbing details from Grayson’s military service and previous jobs in law enforcement even though the revelations led to new requirements for background checks of police statewide.

Sangamon County Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin on Sept. 12 agreed with Grayson’s defense lawyers that the information wasn’t relevant and could unfairly sway jurors based on longstanding rules of evidence and case law.

Except in certain circumstances, testimony, evidence and legal arguments must focus on what happened immediately before, during and after an alleged crime. Prosecutors argued the details they want the jury to hear are exceptions to those rules.

Cadagin, however, disagreed and sided with Mark Wykoff, one of Grayson’s attorneys, who said, “Sean Grayson’s life is not on trial.”

Even though Illinois State Police concluded Grayson’s actions amounted to an inappropriate and unnecessary use of force, Wykoff and defense attorney Daniel Fultz plan to call Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Nick Korte to the stand to back up the defense’s argument that Massey was the initial aggressor in the confrontation.

Court documents indicate Korte’s written report, based on the bodycam video, says Grayson repeatedly told Massey to drop the pot of steaming water and shot her as Massey was throwing the water toward Grayson and another deputy, who faces no charges.

Wykoff and Fultz say there are conflicting views on who was the initial aggressor.

First Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Beth Rodgers previously said Grayson wasn’t justified in his response to Massey and that Grayson, who made disparaging remarks about Massey minutes after the shooting and failed to provide first aid to her after she was shot, failed to “show anything but callousness to a human life.”

Grayson was fired by the sheriff’s department after the shooting. He is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 20. The trial was moved to Peoria County because of pretrial publicity, so jurors will be selected from that county, but the judge and all the lawyers will remain the same.

State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, sponsored a bill that passed the Illinois General Assembly and was signed into law in August by Gov. JB Pritzker that includes provisions to encourage more thorough reviews of job applicants’ past employment. Former Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said he was unaware of problems that some experts considered misconduct at Grayson’s previous police jobs.

Cadagin denied the request of Rodgers and State’s Attorney John Milhiser to introduce evidence that Grayson was discharged from the U.S. Army in 2016 for serious misconduct.

The Army has refused to publicly disclose details of the misconduct that led to a less-than-honorable discharge. But prosecutors said in a document filed Aug. 15 that the misconduct was related to one of Grayson’s two arrests and convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol in Macoupin County.

The judge will allow Grayson’s basic work history to be discussed at trial – the fact that he worked at five downstate Illinois police agencies in the three years before he joined the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in May 2023.

Cadagin denied bids by prosecutors to allow jurors to hear that Grayson, while working as a deputy for the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, violated that department’s vehicle pursuit policy and was the subject of an unfounded citizen complaint from a woman who complained she “felt very violated” by Grayson’s actions in a drug investigation.

Grayson wasn’t disciplined or fired from the Logan County job, which he worked before he was hired in Sangamon County.

Cadigan ruled that the allegations in Logan County, as well as prosecutors’ claim that Grayson tried to interfere in a child-custody dispute in Girard in 2023, were irrelevant to the murder case and will be excluded. Grayson faced no charges in the Girard case.

Rodgers argued that Grayson’s military discharge, the DUIs and the Girard matter were relevant because Grayson’s actions conflicted with his training as a soldier and police officer, just as his actions inside Massey’s home were contrary to his training to deescalate situations.

“What is at issue here is if he was acting as a legally justified, reasonable officer,” Rodgers said.

Wykoff, one of the defense attorneys, said “reasonable use of force will be debated” at the trial. But he said prosecutors’ arguments about Grayson’s past are “fundamentally flawed.”

If Grayson’s past were relevant, Wykoff mused, he wouldn’t be surprised if prosecutors tried to call Grayson’s kindergarten teacher to the stand to testify about his lack of remorse over spilled milk.

Outside details “simply have no bearing on what occurred at the home” of Massey, Wykoff said.

Prosecutors had asked Cadagin to exclude information at trial related to Grayson’s 2023 diagnosis of Stage 3 colon cancer, for which he is receiving treatment. Prosecutors were worried about the impact that sympathy for Grayson’s condition might have on jurors.

However, both sides signaled to the judge recently that they don’t plan to raise the issue of his health during the trial.