Justice for Sonya Massey Category

Category: Justice for Sonya Massey

Working For Justice For All

The first speaker at the heated Sangamon County Board meeting on August 13 was not there to speak about Sonya Massey. He was a soft spoken man by the name of Larry Catrell. He stated he was there to ask that all county officials be held accountable for there actions. Larry’s teenage son and a friend were walking down the street on July 21st in Springfield and were victims of a drive-by shooting. Fortunately, his son and his friend were not killed but they were hit several times. The shooter had just been released from Sangamon County Jail after committing another shooting crime and violating his pre-trial release conditions. Upon release, the shooter cut off his ankle monitor and decided to commit yet another shooting crime. https://newschannel20.com/news/local/three-injured-in-stand-off-with-police-on-south-15th-st

Everyone who spoke after Larry spoke about the injustices visited on the community by Deputy Grayson and in the Sangamon County jail during the years Susan Boone served in the Coroner’s office. Coroner Susan Boone only resigned under the threat that her elected office would be eliminated by the County Board and become an assigned department under the Sangamon County Sheriff. Sheriff Campbell elected to retire only after it became clear that a non-binding referendum would likely find him being asked to resign by the voters of Sagamon County. County Sheriffs are required to be elected by the Illinois Constitution and the position cannot be eliminated.

What should have occurred in the wake Susan Boone’s scandal is now taking place. The Jail Committee will consider submitting a binding referendum to the board to allow county officials to be recalled on Tuesday, August 20. The recall will require petition signatures totaling 10% of the prior vote for that office. I support such referendums considering 2 county officials in the past 14 years have needed to quit their positions under scandal and patently refused to do so at first.

Voters should also be aware that Illinois Judges can be effectively recalled by removing from their positions. Illinois Circuit Judges are up for an approval vote every 10 years. If the voters say no, a new judge is elected at the next general election. The judge in Larry’s case is obviously not suitable for the bench. When someone is charged with shooting offense, that offender should not be released back with no consequences. Ex-Deputy Grayson pleaded just such a case after he was fired from the Sheriff’s Department. His attorney argued he was now a regular citizen and entitled to be released. His request was denied. He currently sits in Menard County jail awaiting trial. If the shooter of Larry’s son was held to the same standard, Larry’s son would not have been shot.

The Safe-T Act has resulted in many cases just like this. I support some of the Safe-T Act, such as body cameras on law enforcement officers and a ban on choke holds. However, making all accused offenders eligible for no-cash bail makes no sense. Illinois voters should hold judges accountable when they release violent offenders back on the street by removing them from office. We shouldn’t forget that justice for all means justice for all. Larry’s son is just as worthy as Sonya. When elected, I will work to ensure that we do have justice for all.

To watch the meeting, click Here. Larry’s speaks from 20:00 to 20:22

Posted on 16 Aug 2024, 12:50 - Category: Justice for Sonya Massey

The Sangamon County Sheriff's Dept. still needs to change

Sheriff Jack Campbell announced he would retire as of August 31, 2024. This is 8 days after the ballot is finalized in Illinois for the 2024 General Election so it is very likely there will be a new Sheriff appointed by County Board President Andy Van Meter after Labor Day. It’s a result befitting of “The Monkey’s Paw” for activists.

The reason I would have preferred Sheriff Campbell remain in office is the same reason that the new appointed Sheriff needs to come from within the Department. There are numerous family relationships that must be managed inside the department. An outsider will not know or likely care about these relationships. This will reduce morale even further in a department that is under scrutiny. Highly performing deputies that are in the department may leave to get away from it and the poor performing ones remain and cause more grumbling and dissension. We get a lower performing Sheriff’s department that has the potential for worse hiring outcomes.

County board members should be given oversight on the new hiring process, likely through expanding the powers of the Deputy Merit Board. The Merit Board should be permitted to evaluate all information on candidates, conduct background checks and review test scores. It should then issue a scored ranking on suitability for the department and the Sheriff can select from the the top 3 candidates available in the “pool”. It will slow the process but it ensures that our department isn’t hiring deputies solely on the basis of being in the “pool” and being someone’s future son-in-law.

If Sheriff Campbell’s retirement takes “the heat” off of making improvements to our hiring practices in Sangamon County Government, we will be the worse for it. I’m committed to improving this process while keeping the high performing deputies on staff. That’s what I’ll do as your representative on the County Board.

Posted on 09 Aug 2024, 17:03 - Category: Justice for Sonya Massey

The Sangamon County Sheriff's Dept. can't be fixed from the outside

Sheriff Campbell admitted on The Table podcast (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Si5-jqzN-E) (8:40 to 12:20) that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s department hired deputies for most of it’s recent history based on legacy and referrals from current and retired deputies. This is unacceptable and given that Sonya Massey’s murderer, Sean Grayson, was hired using this system, it has a clear reason why it must end.

So, why am I not calling for Sheriff Campbell’s resignation? For starters, the Sheriff has been open and candid about apologizing for Grayson’s behavior. He was able to quickly defeat a grievance from the police union for Grayson’s reinstatement. The Sheriff’s department quickly outlined the policies Grayson violated and that Grayson took deliberate actions doing so. This proves good administrative leadership.

Second, the actions Sheriff Campbell had taken were likely as swift as possible considering the Illinois State Police (ISP) was performing the investigation and ongoing murder investigations take time. He did not interfere, as far as we know, with the investigation. If he moved faster, it would increase the chance that Grayson could be let off on a technicality. That would be grave miscarriage of justice. This proves Sheriff Campbell can work under high pressure from outside authorities.

Third, the department is full of deputies hired based on legacy and referrals, including Sheriff Campbell. Given new State-mandated requirements to be elected Sheriff, a likely Democratic candidate will come from outside the department and possibly from outside Sangamon County. There are numerous family relationships that must be managed in the department. An outside appointed or elected Sheriff will not know these relationships and likely not care about them. This will reduce morale even further in a department that is under scrutiny. Sheriff Campbell, being a product of the system and open to change, is the best option to lead the necessary change in hiring practices at the department.

There are many good deputies in the department, such as Grayson’s partner and now star witness for the prosecution. Removing current deputies solely based on their method of hire will punish them for the actions that they did not take and a system they did not necessarily build. There is now a clear reason why nepotism is unacceptable. It is clear that once candidates are in the “pool”, a rubric needs to be developed to select the next deputy hired and it cannot be based on references alone.

If we, The People of Sangamon County, are unhappy with progress being made at the department, we should vote out Sheriff Campbell in 2026.

Sonya Massey should be alive today. We need to do better as a county government. Nepotism is an unacceptable practice in the private sector as well as government. Our county board should lead this effort and encourage departments to hire the best qualified candidates, not the best connected ones.

Posted on 04 Aug 2024, 10:48 - Category: Justice for Sonya Massey

Sonya Massey should be alive today

July 6^th was a sad and despicable day for our county. A person who was entrusted to look out for our community willfully and shamefully decided to take the life of Sonya Massey, who only asked for his help. After watching the body cam video from his fellow deputy, I was horrified that such an incident could take place here. It is a most heinous betrayal of the public trust and we, on the county board, should work to ensure such a crime never happens again.

To that end, once elected, I will fully support the decision of remedies upon the Sheriff’s department that is agreed upon by Sonya Massey’s family and our court system. Our State’s Attorney, John Milheiser, has charged the former deputy with three counts of murder and he remains in Sangamon County Jail without bail. The Justice Department has opened their own investigation into how our deputies are evaluated prior to hire and how they are trained. Attorney Milheiser is well acquainted with the US Justice Department having served there prior to taking the State’s Attorney role here in Sangamon County. I would trust that they can evaluate and proscribe the proper remedies.

I believe that we have good men and women in law enforcement. For example, the prosecution’s star witness in this case will be a Sheriff’s Deputy. He rendered aid to Sonya after she was shot even when the murderer said he didn’t need to. He kept his body camera on and recorded the aftermath. He is responsible for providing the nearest truth about what happened that night. Sonya’s murderer turned off his body camera in an attempt to cover up the crime and refused to assist any life saving measures. There have been allegations that both deputies lied about how Sonya was shot. I don’t know what to believe but I want to believe that someone who would render aid to a dying woman would never lie about the cause. We need to be fair to the deputy who treated Sonya with respect and our court system is the best way to find this out.

Sheriff departments should be held to very high standards and we ask a lot of our deputies. Their job is to deal with people on their worst days be it injured in a traffic accident, evicted from their home, or being arrested for a crime. They need to treat those people, US, with respect and a modicum of kindness. Sonya was denied that. We can and will do better. That’s only a beginning of how we can #standwithsonya.

Posted on 23 Jul 2024, 19:08 - Category: Justice for Sonya Massey

Pages: [1]