James Wilburn is one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. He’s also an uplifting one. He lived a long part of his life in San Diego and then retired a few years ago to Pine Bluff. In that sense, he is fairly fresh to the area, upbeat about the good things and excited about the future. If the new has worn off between him and his new home, it’s not detectable.
Maybe because he is such an extrovert about loving life, it was beyond sad to see him in such pain at the loss of his daughter, Sonya Massey. Massey, of course, was killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Illinois. She had called authorities to report a possible prowler, and she ended up shot to death while standing in her own kitchen. No, it makes no sense and never will.
The deputy is in jail and is facing murder charges, so there is still that drama to endure.
For now, though, the family has exacted some retribution. Wilburn found himself thrust into the middle of the case, and reached for a potent ally in Ben Crump, a nationally known trial lawyer, who would take over what became a nationally known story.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Just recently, the Illinois county where this took place agreed to a $10 million settlement, to be split equally between Massey’s two children who have forever lost their mother. Could the family have gotten more? Wilburn said people have suggested as much, but he added that the county has no insurance and only had $12 million in a reserve fund. Taking most of that, Wilburn said, will be a long-term reminder for the county of what should not have transpired. And, he said, who knows what could have happened if the case had gone to trial, in that there is no guarantee what a jury might have decided.
The fact that the county settled even before the deputy went to trial speaks volumes. As Wilburn said, the bodycam footage is telling.
Wilburn also sees a glimmer of good coming out of this, which is not surprising for someone with his demeanor. Illinois is considering a bill, named after Massey, that would regulate how law enforcement agencies are allowed to hire. The deputy who now sits in jail had quite a record of problems before being hired. As Wilburn put it, he should never have been hired, based on that history, but agencies do hire people like that to save the money they would have spent sending someone to the police academy. If passed, Wilburn said, the legislation would make it less likely for someone to be hired who should not be hired, thereby decreasing the likelihood of another such incident.
Nothing will bring Sonya Massey back. Family members and friends lost someone dear to them, and they will hurt for the rest of their lives. We all hurt for him and them. As Wilburn said, people here come up to him frequently to express their condolences and hug him to show their love. He said it helps.