(WASHINGTON) — Sean Grayson, the former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal 2024 shooting of Sonya Massey, was on Friday unanimously denied early release by a prisoner review board. Grayson, who served in Sangamon County, had asked for an early release because he has stage 4 colon cancer. Massey’s family told ABC News on Thursday that they fought for him to stay behind bars. “I don’t think I’ve seen one day since the day she died that I haven’t cried,” Donna Massey, Sonya Massey’s mother, said. Attorneys for the Massey family claimed she was experiencing a mental health crisis and posed no threat.