Peoria, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) — Sean Grayson was mad.

That’s what Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser told jurors in his opening statement Wednesday in Grayson’s murder trial in Peoria.  Grayson is accused of using excessive force and killing Sonya Massey July 6, 2024.  He’s charged with three counts of First Degree Murder.

Milhiser told the eight women and four men on the jury Grayson got mad at Massey for not putting down a pot of boiling water.  In police body camera video also played for the jury, that matter was highlighted, as Grayson seemingly got more and more frustrated with Massey before he pulled and pointed his duty weapon at Massey — followed by Grayson’s partner that night, Dawson Farley.

“It will be clear [Grayson] shot and killed Massey,” said Milhiser.

In their opening statements, Dan Fultz, defense attorney, said jurors need to be fair and impartial, and not jump to any conclusions during the course of the trial.  Fultz said Grayson feared injury because of Massey’s pot of boiling water.

“We believe the evidence will show,” Fultz said, that Grayson lawfully discharged the weapon, “that his use of force was appropriate”, and that what he did was not a crime.”

Fultz and co-counsel Mark Wykoff did what they could to poke holes in the testimony of two of the state’s witnesses, Illinois State Police Lt. Eric Weston, and Farley.

While Weston says he had every employee he supervised working on the Massey case when they were called to investigate the officer-involved shooting, he thought initially that “something more” had to have happened in order to cause Massey’s death.  That didn’t prove to be the case.  Retired Sangamon County Chief Deputy Sheriff Anthony Mayfield testified that the department’s own internal investigation determined Grayson violated a number of department procedures and policies that night.

Weston, under cross-examination, later admitted that it wasn’t until days later that his investigators determined that three shots were fired instead of two, after the discovery of another shell casing at the scene.  He also said that the pot boiling water was in wasn’t taken into evidence until two weeks later.

Farley said under direct examination that he did not have fear about Massey causing any harm, but did believe Grayson was more the threat.  But, under cross-examination, it was revealed that at the first chance Farley had to change his story with ISP, he declined.  It wasn’t until August that he contacted ISP to speak to them, after he admitted that Grayson being indicted made him change his mind.

“I did my best to try and remember the incident,” said Farley, to Fultz.

But, under direct exam, Farley said after initially following a recommendation by the Fraternal Order of Police not to change his story, he did because “I just wanted to do right by [Massey’s] family and tell the truth.”

A Sangamon County 911 dispatcher also testified about how their process works, and how she was one of the first to receive a 911 call that night.

Body-worn camera videos from Grayson and from Farley were also shown to the jury — uncensored, as opposed to the version shown to the public.  As the video was played for the jury, members of Massey’s family cried and looked away at times, with some even leaving the courtroom at one point.  Those on another side of the courtroom hung their heads and also chose not to watch the video.  In the end, that may be the most important evidence of the trial.

The trial resumes Thursday at 9am with more testimony.