Bodycam footage showing the shooting of Sonya Massey is played in court on October 22, 2025. Cliff Questel

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois jury has begun deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of a sheriff’s deputy who shot Sonya Massey , a Black woman in her home who had called 911 for help and was later killed because of the way she was handling a pan of hot water.

The eight-woman, four-man jury received the case just after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Jurors must decide whether Sean Grayson , 31, is guilty of murder for fatally shooting Massey in her Springfield home.

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 o

See Full Page