A jury has discovered a former Illinois sheriff’s deputy responsible of second-degree homicide within the deadly taking pictures of Sonya Massey.
The trial started final week for Sean Grayson, the previous Sangamon County deputy, within the deadly taking pictures of Massey in July 2024 after she referred to as 911 to report a doable intruder at her house in Springfield, Illinois.
Grayson had been charged with a complete of three counts in reference to Massey’s demise — first-degree homicide, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He pleaded not responsible to “all counts,” his lawyer instructed ABC Information.
Following the seven-day trial, the jury was given the choice of contemplating second-degree homicide, in accordance ABC station WLS in Chicago. Grayson’s sentencing is about for Jan. 29, 2026. He might be sentenced from 4 to twenty years in jail, or be given probation.
The jury was instructed to not deliberate on the decrease prices.
Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, attorneys for Massey’s household, stated in a press release Wednesday that the “verdict continues to be a measure of justice for Sonya Massey.” They added, “Accountability has begun, and we now hope the courtroom will impose a significant sentence that displays the severity of those crimes and the life that was misplaced. We are going to proceed to battle for Sonya’s household and for reforms that shield everybody from illegal use of pressure.”
On this July 30, 2024, file photograph, Donna Massey, the mom of taking pictures sufferer Sonya Massey, is comforted throughout a press convention at New Mount Pilgrim Church in Chicago.
Scott Olson/Getty Pictures, FILE
James Wilburn, Massey’s father, stated at a press convention exterior of the courthouse after the trial that there was little question in his thoughts that Grayson dedicated first-degree homicide.
“I am certain there isn’t any doubt in Sean Grayson’s thoughts, however his attorneys have been skillful sufficient,” Wilburn stated. “They stated that my daughter was the aggressor.”
“While you threaten to shoot somebody within the face, and also you do, that is first-degree homicide,” Sangamon County Assistant State’s Legal professional Mary Beth Rodgers stated throughout closing arguments on Tuesday, in line with ABC affiliate WICS in Springfield.
Rodgers stated the most important lie Grayson instructed was that he had no selection in taking pictures Massey, in line with WICS. The assistant state lawyer stated Grayson continued to lie time and again on the stand, together with when he stated he tried to show his physique digital camera on.
In response to bodycam footage from his associate, Grayson, who was inside Massey’s house, factors to a pot of boiling water on her range and says, “We do not want a hearth whereas we’re in right here.”
Massey then pours the water into the sink and tells the deputy, “I rebuke you within the identify of Jesus,” in line with the video.
Grayson threatens to shoot her and Massey apologizes and geese down behind a counter, protecting her face with what seems to be a purple oven mitt, the video exhibits. As she briefly rises, Grayson shoots her 3 times within the face, the footage exhibits.
On this July 27, 2024, file photograph, mourners put up candles whereas attending a vigil for Sonya Massey in Folger Park in Washington, D.C.
Aashish Kiphayet/Nurphoto by way of Reuters, FILE
“He needs you to imagine that he was scared,” Rodgers stated of Grayson. “However you don’t should imagine that as a result of it’s not true.”
The assistant state lawyer stated that Massey’s ultimate phrases earlier than being shot together with her fingers up have been, “I am sorry,” in line with WICS.
Daniel Fultz, Grayson’s protection lawyer, stated throughout closing arguments that what occurred to Massey was a tragedy however not a criminal offense, in line with WICS.
“As exhausting as that’s to listen to and settle for, the end result of this explicit case was pushed by Sonya Massey’s actions,” Fultz stated, in line with WICS.
The protection lawyer acknowledged that when Massey stated, “I rebuke you within the identify of Jesus,” Grayson believed it was a risk, and the jury did not should agree with the previous deputy, however that’s what he believed, in line with WICS.
Fultz stated that he did not care if the jury did not like Grayson as an individual as a result of that wasn’t what they have been there to determine.
“The factor you can not do is let your feelings dictate the end result of this case,” the protection lawyer instructed the jury, in line with WICS.
In rebuttal, Sangamon County State’s Legal professional John Milhiser referenced the protection’s instruction for the jury to not let their feelings determine the outcomes of the trial, in line with WICS.
“Huh, that’s what occurred,” Milhiser stated, in line with WICS. “The defendant let his feelings dictate the end result of what occurred in Sonya Massey’s kitchen.”
The prosecution performed Grayson’s associate’s physique digital camera footage of the taking pictures on a monitor, inflicting a number of relations of Massey to cry or go away the courtroom, in line with WICS. Grayson leaned ahead over a desk, not watching the monitor. One juror appeared to cry as she watched the footage, holding a notepad as much as her face in an try to cover behind it, in line with WICS.
“Here is this big, harmful pot,” Milhiser stated as he held up the kitchenware for the jury to see, in line with WICS.
Chief Circuit Decide Ryan Cadagin put the courtroom in recess as he despatched the jury out for deliberation after the closing arguments, in line with WICS.
Fultz declined to offer a remark to ABC Information forward of the trial.
The footage launched by Illinois State Police exhibits the incident from the associate’s perspective as a result of Grayson didn’t activate his personal physique digital camera till after the taking pictures, in line with courtroom paperwork reviewed by ABC Information.
Grayson took the stand in his personal protection Monday, telling the jury he thought Massey was threatening him the night time he and his associate responded to her.
The previous deputy stated that after he requested her to show off the range, which was heating a pot of boiling water, he thought she was threatening him and was going to throw the water at him.
In physique digital camera video, Massey doesn’t seem to lift the pot till after Grayson raises his gun, a key distinction, in line with prosecutors. He shoots and kills her moments later.
Grayson instructed the jury that he didn’t use a taser as a result of he had an older mannequin and Massey was sporting a number of layers of clothes. The previous deputy stated he didn’t need to take the possibility of it malfunctioning.
Earlier than Grayson took the stand, his associate, who responded to Massey’s house with him, stated on the stand that he didn’t see her as a risk earlier than his associate fired his gun.
The trial started with jury choice on Monday, the place a panel of 12 jurors was seated, in line with WICS. The method took greater than 5 hours and ended with a jury made up of 9 white girls, one Black man and two white males, in addition to two white males and one white girl chosen as alternate jurors.
The trial was moved from Sangamon County to Peoria County as a consequence of intensive media publicity.
