Lawyers gave their opening statements to a jury at the Peoria County Courthouse on Wednesday morning, officially kicking off the trial of a former Illinois deputy accused of fatally shooting Sonya Massey. Sean Grayson, 31, shot Massey, a 36-year-old Black mother of two, in June 2024 after she called authorities to her Springfield home about a possible prowler. The former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, who is white, said in a report written after the incident that he feared bodily harm because Massey was holding a pot of boiling water and said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

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