Body camera video of Sonya Massey's fatal encounter with deputies featured in emotional day in murder trial

Emotions ran high in an Illinois courtroom Wednesday as a jury watched body camera video showing the moments a former sheriff's deputy shot Sonya Massey in her kitchen.

Emotions ran high in an Illinois courtroom Wednesday as a jury watched body camera video showing the moments a former sheriff's deputy shot Sonya Massey in her kitchen.

Sean Grayson, 31, sat in the courtroom hunched in his chair and appeared to plug his ears during the part of the video that included audio of shots being fired at Massey. Massey, 36, a Black mother of two, had called authorities to her Springfield home for help with a possible prowler in July 2024.

Grayson, a former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, who is white, wrote in a report 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."

Prosecutors say the bodycam video shows Massey wasn’t a real threat to Grayson.

Wednesday was the first day of testimony in Grayson’s murder trial, and he could face 45 years to life in prison if he is convicted. He has pleaded not guilty and was held in jail pending trial.