An Illinois jury is set to continue deliberations Wednesday in the first-degree murder trial of a sheriff's deputy who shot Sonya Massey, a Black woman who had called 911 for help and was later killed in her home because of the way she was handling 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 answered 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, spotting a pan of hot water on the stove, Grayson ordered it removed, according to the other deputy's body camera video, which was key evidence.
Grayson and Massey joked 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 beseeched the jury to decide how Grayson felt in the moment, “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 raised new questions about U.S. law enforcement shootings of Black people in their homes.
The accompanying publicity, protests and legal action over the shooting prompted the judge to move the trial from Springfield, 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, to Peoria, an hour’s drive north of the capital city.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Grayson faces a sentence of 45 years to life in prison.
The jury also has been given the option of considering second-degree murder, which applies when there is a “serious provocation” of the defendant or when defendants believe their actions are justified even though that belief is unreasonable.
Second-degree murder is punishable by a term of four to 20 years or probation.
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