Former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson’s lawyers say he deserves a new trial for the 2024 murder of Sonya Massey because the presiding judge erred when allowing the jury to hear Grayson’s disparaging remarks about Massey after the fatal shooting.

Editor’s note: This story originally ran in the Illinois Times and was republished with permission.

“As a result, the events following the shooting had no relevance to the issues in the case,” attorneys Daniel Fultz and Mark Wykoff wrote in their Nov. 26 motion for a new trial. “The only purpose served by the introduction of that evidence was to improperly inflame the passions of the jury – which was substantially prejudicial to the defendant.”

Sangamon County Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin is expected to rule on that argument,

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