By JOHN O’CONNOR, Associated Press
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois jury is set to continue deliberations Wednesday in the first-degree murder trial of a sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey, a Black woman who had called 911 for help and was later killed in her home over her handling of a pan of hot water.
The nine-woman, three-man jury received the case Tuesday and deliberated for about 6 1/2 hours. Jurors must decide whether Sean Grayson, 31, is guilty of murder for fatally shooting Massey in Springfield.
Grayson and another deputy responded to Massey’s emergency call reporting a prowler outside the 36-year-old woman’s home early on the morning of July 6, 2024. They entered the house, and upon spotting a pan of hot water on the stove, Grayson ordered it removed, according to body camera video from the other deputy, which served as key evidence.
Grayson and Massey exchanged jokes about how Grayson moved away as Massey moved the hot pan. Then, Massey said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson yelled at her to drop the pot and threatened to shoot her. Massey apologized and ducked behind a counter.
“She makes it abundantly clear, ‘I want no part of this. Let this be done,’” Sangamon County First Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Beth Rodgers said in her closing argument.
Defense attorney Daniel Fultz urged the jury to consider how Grayson felt at the moment of the shooting, “not to sit back 15 months later and say, ‘This is what I would have done.’”
“It is true that she put the pot down. If it ended there, we wouldn’t be here today, but for reasons we’ll never know, she reacquired the pot, stood up and threw it in his direction,” Fultz said. “Only at that time did he fire his weapon.”
Massey’s killing has raised new questions about U.S. law enforcement shootings of Black people in their homes. The publicity, protests, and legal action surrounding the shooting prompted the judge to move the trial from Springfield—200 miles southwest of Chicago—to Peoria, about an hour’s drive north.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Grayson faces a sentence of 45 years to life in prison.
The jury has also been given the option of considering second-degree murder, which applies when there is “serious provocation” or when defendants believe their actions are justified, even if that belief is unreasonable. Second-degree murder carries a sentence ranging from four to 20 years or probation.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/10/29/deputy-shooting-sonya-massey-deliberations/