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For movement 10/29 12:01 am est. Discussion on the incident resumed at 10 am.
One Illinois The jury is set to continue deliberations Wednesday in the first-degree murder trial of a sheriff’s deputy who shot Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 for help and was later killed in her home because of the way she handled a pot of hot water.
The nine-woman, three-man jury received the case Tuesday and deliberated for about 6 1/2 hours. Jurors must decide whether Shawn Grayson, 31, is guilty of murder for fatally shooting Massey springfield,
Grayson and another deputy responded to an emergency call from Macy’s on the morning of July 6, 2024, reporting a stalker outside the 36-year-old woman’s home. They entered the house and seeing a pan of hot water on the stove, Grayson ordered it removed, which was crucial evidence, according to another deputy’s body camera video.
Grayson and Macy joke about how Grayson walks away when Macy moves a hot pan. Then, after Macy said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Grayson yelled at her for dropping a pot and threatened to shoot her. Macy apologized and hid behind a counter.
“She made it absolutely clear, ‘I want no part of this. Let it be,'” Sangamon County First Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Beth Rodgers said in her closing argument.
Defense attorney Daniel Fultz urged the jury to decide how Grayson felt in that moment, “rather than sit back 15 months later and say, ‘This is what I would have done.'”
“It’s true that she put the pot down. If it had ended there, we wouldn’t be here today, but for reasons we will never know, she retrieved the pot, stood up and threw it in his direction,” Fultz said. “That’s the only time he fired his weapon.”
Massey’s killing raised new questions about the shootings of black people in their homes by American law enforcement. Publicity, protests and legal action over the incident prompted the judge to move the trial 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Springfield. chicagoTo Peoria, an hour’s drive north of the capital city.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Grayson faces 45 years to life in prison. The jury is also given the option to consider second-degree murder, which applies when there is “serious provocation” or when the defendant believes his actions are justified, even if that belief is unreasonable.
Second-degree murder is punishable by four to 20 years in prison or even probation.