PEORIA, Ill. (WCIA) — The Massey Family remains unsatisfied with the outcome of Wednesday’s verdict, where a former deputy was convicted of second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of their daughter.

Sean Grayson now faces a potential 20-year prison sentence. This conviction, however, is less severe than the first-degree murder charge initially brought against him 15 months prior.

The moment the words “guilty of second-degree murder” echoed in the courtroom, a hush fell over the gallery, broken only by quiet sobs from both the Massey and Grayson families.

These subdued emotions soon erupted into a fervent call for justice on the streets of Downtown Peoria later that Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m devastated,” expressed Sontae Massey, Sonya’s cousin. “Watching Sonya’s daughter, Summer, become inconsolable was heartbreaking.”

Steve Beckett, a seasoned criminal defense attorney from Urbana, found the jury’s decision predictable. While he saw it as a standard outcome, he acknowledged that it left no one truly satisfied. “This case has left both families utterly devastated,” he remarked.

“If you’re looking at it from the victim and the victim’s family perspective, they would say, well, that’s crazy because boiling water and a gun…that just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “But if you look from the police perspective and the instantaneous second the officer had to decide, then I guess you could see how a jury could apply their common sense.”

Now, attention is turning to sentencing in Sangamon County on January 29.

“What we need to be concerned about is that he gets a maximum sentence here,” Antonio Romanucci, a civil rights attorney, said as he addressed a crowd shortly after Wednesday’s verdict.

Beckett doesn’t believe that will happen.

“20 years commission of a crime is for somebody with absolutely no redeeming value, expresses no remorse and basically scoffs at what happened,” he said.

For legal experts, Beckett said the next steps will include preparing a pre-sentencing report, which will go into “great detail of the defendant’s background.”

Meanwhile, the Masseys will focus their next steps on making a change near and far.

“All we got was a second-degree murder conviction out of this?!” James Wilburn, Sonya’s father, said. “There has to be some middle point between first degree and second degree. I think this was a compromised verdict.”

Wilburn said this doesn’t feel like they got “complete justice.”

“Until we get complete justice for people all across the United States, it’s not going to be enough for me,” he added.

He wants to see the Sonya Massey bill passed in all 49 other states, not just in Illinois. Governor Pritzker signed it into law in August, requiring more transparency when hiring at Illinois law enforcement agencies. That includes more comprehensive reviews of past employment.