A Justice for Sonya Massey Rally is planned outside the Peoria County Courthouse in Peoria on Oct. 20, the first day of Sean Grayson’s murder trial.
The rally, which organizer Chama St. Louis-Boone said will be peaceful and is designed to “support the Massey family” and call for “accountability of police,” will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a blocked-off section of Main Street between Adams and Jefferson streets.
Sontae Massey, a cousin of the late Sonya Massey, said, “Peoria is set to be ground-zero, for lack of a better term, as to what we will accept in regard to how policing and police killings are judged from this moment on.”
Selection of a jury in the trial of Riverton resident Sean Grayson, a former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy charged with first-degree murder in Massey’s July 2024 death, is scheduled to begin Oct. 20 in Peoria County Circuit Court. Opening arguments in the case could take place Oct. 22, and seating for the public in the courtroom is expected to be limited. The trial could last up to two weeks.
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St. Louis-Boone, a Peoria resident who leads Peorians for Justice for Sonya Massey, said there will be plenty of space at the rally and portable restrooms available.
Rally speakers are expected to include Sontae Massey; Tiara Standage, executive director of Intricate Minds and president of The PURPLE Coalition in Springfield; Brian Mendis from the Chicago-based Open Police Archives Campaign; Demario Boone, director of public safety for Peoria Public Schools; and several relatives of people who died at the hands of police in Peoria and Chicago.
St. Louis-Boone said she operates the Peoria group on a volunteer basis while she works her paid job as organizing director for the nonprofit National Black Worker Center, which advocates on behalf of Black low-wage workers.
St. Louis-Boone said the rally is designed to direct frustrations surrounding Massey’s death in a positive and peaceful direction.
“We know that this incident really reached a lot of people,” St. Louis-Boone said. “The world will definitely be watching.”
This article appears in October 16-22, 2025.
