A downstate Peoria jury convicted a white, ex-cop of second-degree murder Wednesday for fatally shooting an unarmed Black woman in her Springfield area home in a case that again exemplified the nation’s troubled history of police brutality against people of color.

Former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson was found guilty of one count of the lesser charge for killing 36-year-old Sonya Massey.

Grayson had been charged with three counts of first-degree murder. The jury’s decision to convict on a single lesser count of second-degree murder averted a lifetime sentence in prison that first-degree murder charges carried in some instances.

A second-degree murder conviction in Illinois carries a potential sentence of between four and 20 years behind bars.

The nine-woman, three-man j

See Full Page