Jurors deliberated Tuesday afternoon on first-degree murder charges against Sean Grayson but didn’t reach a verdict after closing arguments offered competing views of why he killed Massey.
The murder case of a white ex-cop accused of killing an unarmed Black woman in her Springfield-area home is now before a jury after lawyers on both sides presented their closing arguments Tuesday.
In a nationally watched trial, former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson, 31, is facing three counts of first-degree murder for fatally shooting 36-year-old Sonya Massey. Last year, she called the police to report a suspected prowler when Grayson and another deputy responded.
That seemingly routine call took a fatal turn in a matter of minutes, when Grayson threatened to shoot Massey “in her f- – -ing face” if she didn’t put down a pot of boiling water that had been on her stovetop. The former deputy shot at Massey three times while she ducked behind her kitchen counter, striking her under her left eye.
Grayson has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have argued he was acting in self-defense because he believed Massey intended to throw the pot of water at him.
Jurors began deliberating Grayson’s fate around lunchtime and ended the day Tuesday without reaching a verdict. They will resume deliberations Wednesday.
But jurors did pose two questions to the judge overseeing the case after they went behind closed doors.
One was a request to review police-worn body camera videos that have been a critical piece of evidence in the trial. The jury asked to look at Grayson’s and at his partner’s recordings, and to view them side-by-side.
The other question had to do with a reference in jury instructions to a state law that governs when use of force is impermissible as an act of self-defense.
