The murder trial of a former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey, an unarmed black woman , in her Springfield home last summer is slated to begin on Monday.

Sean Grayson, 30, faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct for the July 6, 2024, shooting of Massey, 36, who had called 911 to report a suspected prowler. It has garnered international attention as an example of police shootings involving people of color .

In April, a judge granted the request by defense attorneys for the trial to be moved out of the capital city to Peoria because of intense publicity.

In their motion to change the trial’s location, Grayson’s lawyers, Mark Wykoff and Daniel Fultz, argued that international news coverage, activists’ rall

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