Testimony resumes Monday in the murder trial of Sean Grayson. He is the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed Sonya Massey, inside her home in July 6, 2024 after she called police about a prowler.
Illinois Public Media News and Public Affairs Director Reginald Hardwick spoke with Dean Olsen, the senior staff writer for Illinois Times. He’s been in the Peoria County courtroom since the trial started. Olsen talked about some of the witnesses who have testified so far. Click here to see Olsen’s detailed timeline of the trial.
REGINALD HARDWICK: The jury was seated and testimony started last week. What witnesses have we heard from?
DEAN OLSEN: We’ve heard from investigators from the Illinois State Police. They investigated the case because the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department would have had a conflict of interest, since Grayson is with them. We’ve also heard from a forensic pathologist who did the autopsy on Sonya Massey and determined that she bled to death when one of the bullets severed her carotid artery. They’ve heard from experts who are called by the Sangamon County State’s Attorney, who talked about the appropriateness of Sean Grayson’s conduct. They’ve talked about the use of proper use of force and policies, policing policies across the country, and in Sangamon County, the prosecution is expected to rest its case on Monday. And then the defense would begin presenting its case, and defense attorneys have been cross-examining witnesses as well.
HARDWICK: What has been Grayson’s presence during the testimonies?
OLSEN: Grayson has been pretty calm, sometimes laughing when there’s jokes or levity in the courtroom. The most serious times so far have been when the unredacted video has played from both his body cam and from his partner, who wasn’t charged in this incident, and it’s pretty graphic and and Grayson would look away. Also, when there were autopsy photos shown that were kind of bloody and very graphic. He looked away from that. This has been very emotional for the family of Sonya Massey. They’ve been in the courtroom. Sometimes, some of them have broken down in tears and left the courtroom when the testimony or the pictures became very graphic. Grayson’s family has been in the audience, too. They’ve not spoken to the media.
HARDWICK: You’re talking about the body camera, where he fires the shots at her while she’s holding the boiling water. Do we expect Grayson to take the stand?
OLSEN: It’s really unknown. He has the option of taking the stand, and the jury has been told that they can’t hold it against him if he doesn’t take the stand. So nobody said whether he’s going to take the stand or not. He’s it’s interesting because he’s dealing with he’s been dealing for several years with colon cancer, and I don’t know if that’s the cause, but he’s lost probably 30,40, 50 pounds since this case started. He’s 6 foot 3 and weighed 230 pounds, [a] big, husky guy, and he’s lost quite a bit of weight. Sonya Massey was small and very slight, about 5 foot, 110 pounds. And there are racial overtones in the case. Grayson’s white. Sonya Massey was Black and was dealing with mental illness at the time. So there’s a lot of issues swirling around this case.
HARDWICK: Reporting by the Illinois Times, Illinois Public Media and the Invisible Institute uncovered that Grayson had worked at six Central Illinois Police departments in four years. He faced complaints or was fired before being hired by Sangamon County. Do you expect that to come up in the trial and or has it come up on trial yet?
OLSEN: The judge ruled ahead of the trial that that most of that could not be brought up in his background that was attempted to be brought up by the prosecution, and they set, set, they settled these issues before trial generally.
HARDWICK: Could you describe the jury hearing this case?
OLSEN: It’s of Peoria County residents, and there’s similar demographics in Peoria County and Sangamon County. There’s a slightly higher Black population in Peoria County, but of the 12 jurors, only one is Black. So it was it’s eight women and four men. The one Black juror is a man. He’s a truck driver. There are a variety of people on the jury. Like there’s registered nurses, engineers, [a] pharmacy technician, all different walks of life… And they’ve been very attentive during all of the testimony. So it’s an interesting group of people.
HARDWICK: What has the scene been outside of the courtroom?
OLSEN: It’s been sometimes emotional, because you see, after certain days of testimony, the Massey family has been huddling together. Sometimes people have been very upset about the testimony, because they have to relive this over and over. They’re taking shifts. The Massey family is a large family from Springfield. There are limits to how many people from the family can be in the courtroom. The judge and the two sides have limited it so people are not packed in like sardines. The Massey family is confident that this guy will be convicted of first-degree murder. It’s expected that the jury will be given instructions, probably beginning Wednesday.