PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson has taken the stand and will testify at his own murder trial.
That comes after an expert on use of force by police spent all Friday testifying how he felt Grayson wasn’t justified when he shot a woman last summer.
Grayson, 31, is on trial for first-degree murder in connection with the July 6, 2024, shooting of Sonya Massey in her home in the Cabbage Patch neighborhood of Springfield.
He faces decades behind bars if convicted.
After the state rested, Sangamon County Judge Ryan Cadagin — the trial was moved to Peoria County due to pretrial press — denied a defense motion for a directed verdict. Such a motion states that no reasonable jury could find a person guilty of the charge based upon the evidence so far.
Such motions are routinely denied so it wasn’t out of the norm.
Updates for other days of the trial can be found below:
- Day 1: Jury Selection
- Day 2: Motions and rulings
- Day 3: Illinois State Police Investigative head takes the stand
- Day 4: Departmental policies
- Day 5: Faculty director of the Excellence in Policing & Public Safety (EPPS) Program takes the stand.
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This story will be updated below in reverse chronological order
UPDATED (11:22 a.m.) – A former manager of the George Public Safety Training Center said Sean Grayson’s actions by moving towards Sonya Massey were not improper.
Rather, Glyn Corbitt testified that it was proper for Grayson to move towards Massey as she was on the ground in her kitchen, as it allowed him to maintain a “visual” on the woman.
Corbitt is testifying as a defense expert on use of force.
A big issue has been that Grayson escalated the situation early on July 6, 2024, by shouting at Massey, pointing his weapon at her and then moving closer to her.
Corbitt testified that not only did Grayson properly advise her what would happen if she didn’t put down the pot of boiling water, but he also acted properly to get closer.
That was not a tactical violation of generally accepted practices, asked defense attorney Mark Wykoff.
“No, it was not,” Corbitt said.
A person’s actions, he said, can dictate how an “event” goes and here, if Grayson’s partner was able to turn off the stove where the pot was, it’s possible things would have de-escalated. But Massey got to the pot first, according to prior testimony and to body camera footage, and took it off the stove.
But then she picked it back up. At that point, he said, things turned from a crisis intervention incident into a use of force incident.
UPDATED (10:29 a.m.) — A Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy testified that Sean Grayson was highly emotional and upset in the minutes after the shooting of Sonya Massey.
Jason Eccleston said Grayson acted “panicked” and acted like he was in a daze. He was “looking right through me.” He stayed with him in the minutes and hours after the shooting.
Grayson, he said, was “quiet, somber and then would get really worked up again.”
His testimony lasted only a few minutes.
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UPDATED (10:22 a.m.) — Sean Grayson said he opted not to use a Taser as he felt the only appropriate way to counter the threat posed by the pot of boiling water was his pistol.
Tasers, he said, are not always appropriate as they might not attach to a person, could malfunction or misfire. In Massey’s case, it wasn’t appropriate for a few reasons.
“She was wearing layers and both prongs have to stick in for the taser to work,” Grayson said.
Deputies, Grayson said, are trained to counter force with force. And he said the only thing he could use was his weapon.
“We were trained to use force that’s going to gain compliance. The only thing I had to stop the threat was my duty weapon,” he said.
Grayson pulled his weapon, a 9mm pistol, after she repeated what he thought was a threat. The words were “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus” while holding the pot of water.
“I took it as a threat,” he said. “It raised a lot of concern for me and I believed she was going to throw the water.” .
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UPDATED (10 a.m.) — Prosecutors have begun to cross-examine Sean Grayson after he spent nearly an hour to explain his actions on the night he shot and killed Sonya Massey.
Grayson, 31, testified he was approaching Massey as she was on the ground to put her in handcuffs for alleged aggravated assault on a police officer for threatening to throw boiling water on him.
He said he believed that since Massey had said twice that she would “rebuke him in the name of Jesus,” and that she was positioned in such a way that it was easier to throw the pot, that he was in risk.
To show jurors, Grayson stood up, turned sideways and acted how he thought Massey was standing.
Aggravated assault, in Illinois, is a charge where someone does something that puts another in a reasonable threat of being injured.
Massey, he said, had been on the ground after he pulled his weapon and pointed it at her. She said she was sorry and Grayson said he believed that was a sign that she knew she had done something wrong.
He approached, went near a kitchen cabinet and then she “jumped up and grabbed the pot.”
“I reached into the cabinet and she leapt up and grabbed the pot, raised over her head and began to throw the pot,” he said.
That’s when he fired his pistol.
Sangamon County John Milhiser spent about five to seven minutes questioning Grayson but spent much of the time asking about some inconsistences regarding his reports.
One issue the prosecutor raised was how Grayson didn’t put that he threatened to “shoot her in the (expletive) face, only that he pulled his gun and pointed it at her. Milhiser noted that no one could have heard that but for Farley’s body camera and Grayson said yes.
But Fultz came back during his redirect got Grayson said to say that he didn’t feel compelled to put everything in the report as there was body camera footage.
Did you go back to the state police and change your story?, Fultz asked, referring back to Farley who did go back and “clarify” what was in his report to investigators.
“No,” Grayson said.
We are now on break.
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UPDATED (9:30 a.m.) — Sean Grayson admitted he should have turned on his body camera much earlier in his encounter with Sonya Massey.
The 31-year-old former Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy said when he saw a smashed window in Massey’s driveway, he should have turned on the camera. He said he thought he did, but didn’t check to make sure.
Grayson took the stand at the start of the defense’s case. He’s on trial for first-degree murder in connection with Massey’s July 6, 2024, death.
He is speaking clearly, assertively and answering all questions from defense attorney Daniel Fultz. He leaned into the microphone on the witness stand to answer the question.
He started to describe the initial interaction with Massey. He testified he was a bit nervous when she took a long time to answer the door. He told jurors he was worried as he heard noises in the house, saw people moving and with the smashed window on the car in the driveway, he thought something might have been amiss.
Talking to Massey, he testified that he felt something was wrong. Massey, he said, was all over the place, not answered questions appropriately and not understanding why they were there. She had called 911 as she thought she heard a prowler.
Massey, he said, asked him to come inside to “show him something.” When asked about the smashed windows, she said that happened “earlier.”
The trial so far
It’s not up for debate who shot Massey — Grayson did. The trial, which began last Monday, is focusing on whether Grayson acted appropriately.
Prosecutors say no, that he violated generally accepted police practices as well as his department’s own policies. But Team Grayson counters that the Riverton native was in fear of an “imminent threat” from Massey, who was holding a pot of boiling water when she was shot by Grayson at around 12:49 a.m.
Grayson and his partner had been called to her home to check around for a prowler. They found no one and eventually made their way into Massey’s home. While attempting to get her identification for their report, things went south in a hurry.
Massey was told to remove the pot off the stove and when Grayson made a comment about her “hot, steamy water,” she responded by telling him she “rebuked him in the name of Jesus.”
Within 15 seconds, shots were fired. Prosecutors argue that Grayson didn’t see or ignore signs that she was in the midst of a mental health crisis or was not fully cognitive. Grayson’s attorneys argue their client could have been scalded by the water and, thus, was justified.
The trial has focused on the body-worn camera footage from Grayson and his partner that night, Deputy Dawson Farley. The footage shows Farley walking through Massey’s yard, talking to her at her front door, and the encounter in the kitchen.
Grayson’s camera wasn’t turned on until the two had been there for about 12 minutes — a violation of departmental policy, prosecutors allege — and was only turned on when things started to get tense in the kitchen.
Sounds are jarring on the footage, and the three gunshots sound like loud cracks that come out of nowhere and are shocking to hear.
The trial is expected to go through at least Wednesday and possibly long with jury deliberations.
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