Opening statements Wednesday in trial of ex-Illinois officer who killed
Sonya Massey
[October 22, 2025]
By JOHN O'CONNOR
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Fifteen months after Sonya Massey, a Black
woman who had called 911 for help, was killed in her home, the former
police officer who fired the fatal shot is set to go on trial.
Sean Grayson, 31, a former deputy for the Sangamon County Sheriff's
Department in central Illinois, has pleaded not guilty to three counts
of first-degree murder. |
In this image taken from body camera video released by Illinois State
Police on Monday, July 22, 2024, former Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy
Sean Grayson, left, points his gun at Sonya Massey, who called 911 for
help, before shooting and killing her inside her home in Springfield,
Ill., July 6, 2024. (Illinois State Police via AP, file) |
|
The trial was scheduled to begin Wednesday with opening
statements. If convicted of murder, Grayson faces a sentence of
45 years to life in prison. Prosecutors dismissed single counts
of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct.
On July 6, 2024, Massey, a 36-year-old single mother of two
teenagers who struggled with mental health issues, called
emergency responders over a suspected prowler. When Grayson, who
is white, and another deputy entered her Springfield home to
report finding no one, Grayson noticed a pan of hot water on the
stove and ordered it removed.
According to body-camera video that is certain to play a key
role in the trial, Grayson and Massey joked about how the deputy
backed away as she moved the pan before Massey said, “I rebuke
you in the name of Jesus.” Grayson later told sheriff's
investigators he thought Massey's statement meant she intended
to kill him, yelled at her to drop the pot and in the subsequent
commotion, fired three shots, striking her just below the eye.
The incident has prompted continued questions about U.S. law
enforcement shootings of Black people in their homes and
generated a change in Illinois law requiring fuller transparency
on the background of candidates for law enforcement jobs.
A jury of 10 women and five men, including three alternates,
will hear testimony that’s predicted to end next week. The
questioning of prospective jurors on Monday by Sangamon County
State’s Attorney John Milhiser and defense attorney Daniel Fultz
focused on attitudes toward law enforcement during a volatile
time in America.
Witnesses scheduled to testify for both the state and defense
are reported to be experts in police training, generally
accepted police practices, use of force, body camera video, use
of video in investigations and the review of incidents involving
the use of force.
The national attention the case has garnered prompted Sangamon
County Circuit Judge Ryan Cadagin to move the trial from
Springfield to Peoria, 167 miles (269 kilometers) southwest of
Chicago.
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