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Sonya Massey Verdict · Black Girl Interrupted Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Let drop another All right, man, what's up? What's up?
• 0:44
  What's up? It's your girl, Ash, Bring y'all another episode
• 0:50
  a Black Girl Interrupted podcast. Let me just first start
• 0:56
  off by saying, it feels great to be Let me
• 1:01
  say that most of you know what's been going on,
• 1:08
  because y'all know I am a open book. I share
• 1:11
  everything with y'all, not for cloud, not to get accolades,
• 1:16
  but to empower, encourage, and uplift someone that may be
• 1:21
  going through a similar situation. Let me say I love
• 1:28
  y'all and I appreciate y'all for standing in the gap
• 1:32
  with me. I appreciate everyone that has checked on me,
• 1:38
  everyone that has text me, maybe sent a message, maybe
• 1:43
  commented on a post that I've made on Facebook. I
• 1:48
  appreciate y'all. I love y'all for checking on me. I
• 1:52
  love y'all for not allowing me to fall and for
• 1:57
  walking with me. You know that's what I need to
• 2:02
  tell y'all. I just had to share that with y'all
• 2:04
  and let y'all know that I'm so appreciative of you.
• 2:11
  Anyone that is new to Black Girl Interrupted Podcast, every
• 2:17
  time I get ready to start a show, I always
• 2:20
  do something or share something that's encouraging, that's empowering, that's uplifting.
• 2:28
  So before we get into Tonight's conversation again, anyone that's
• 2:32
  new to the Black Girl Interrupted Podcast, I always play
• 2:34
  something that's encouraging, uplifting and empowering always because you don't
• 2:39
  know what a person that's going through. And I just
• 2:42
  want to love on somebody. I just want to continue
• 2:44
  to keep pouring into somebody, and I just want to
• 2:46
  let them know that we got you. You're not alone,
• 2:50
  and baby, it's okay to not be okay. So here
• 2:54
  we go and then we're jumping into Tonight's conversation.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Life will knock you between the eyes.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: It will catch you on the blindside, come out of
• 3:10
  nowhere step you can't anticipate. They will knock the win
• 3:14
  out of you. You want to give up, It's going
• 3:17
  to be very challenging. Whenever you decide that you want
• 3:20
  to grow, whenever you decide that you want to go
• 3:21
  to another level, all hell will break loose.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: It's hard, it's not easy. It's hard changing your life.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: And here's what I want to say to you, for
• 3:35
  those of you that have experienced some hardships, don't give
• 3:39
  up on your dream in moments when you're going to
• 3:44
  doubt yourself. Their rough times are going to come, but
• 3:48
  they have not come to stay. They have come to pass.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: We all go tough.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Problem They don't have to overwhelm you though.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Problems don't have to take you out.
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: Though problems will have to make your life miserable.
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: Though your problem is you go back and running your
• 4:04
  safety net. I can't do it help, and you're gonna
• 4:07
  be running to it for the rest of your life
• 4:09
  until you get to a point where you look at
• 4:11
  life and say you will not be needing.
• 4:14
  Speaker 7: It's easy to complain. It's easy to point out your circumstances.
• 4:18
  It's easy to talk about what has happened to you.
• 4:21
  It's easy to talk about your situation.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: What you're going through.
• 4:27
  Speaker 8: But if you do what is easy, your life will
• 4:30
  be hard. But if you do what's hard, your life
• 4:35
  will be easy.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: See, it's easy to be on the bottom. It doesn't
• 4:40
  take any effort to be a loser.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Doesn't take any motivation, any drive in order to stay
• 4:46
  down there at a low level.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: But it calls on everything in you, ladies and gentlemen.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: You have to honess your will to say I'm going
• 4:54
  to challenge myself. Sometimes I have to pull myself out
• 4:57
  of bed and come on. Lets things I know I
• 4:59
  shouldn't You know, I talk to things I shouldn't.
• 5:02
  Speaker 9: Do I do.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: I found that the biggest enemy you have to.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Deal with is yourselves.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: Your problem is some of you are phenomenally still. But
• 5:10
  it is a phenomenal will that says every time I
• 5:13
  get knocked down, I will get back up and I
• 5:17
  will succeed. I will not surrender. You have something great
• 5:24
  in you. You can do it. Where you are is temporary.
• 5:28
  You will not be there for the rest of your life.
• 5:30
  Hit my last for a second, hit my last for
• 5:32
  a minute, hit my last for an hour, hit my
• 5:34
  last for a week.
• 5:35
  Speaker 10: It might last for a day, it.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Might last for months, But sooner or.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: Later, if you do not surrender.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: If you do not give up, if you do not
• 5:43
  give in, it will subside.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: You've got to say yes, yes to my dreams, Yes
• 5:51
  to me.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I can make it. Yes I can.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Doesn't matter how many failures I've made, doesn't matter how
• 5:59
  many mistakes I've ended, doesn't matter about my defeat, doesn't
• 6:03
  matter about what I've done.
• 6:05
  Speaker 11: I don't care about the fact I'm in a hole
• 6:07
  now doesn't matter about where I am. Yes, yes, the
• 6:12
  last chapter to my life has not been written yet.
• 6:16
  If you judge me now, you'll judge me prematurely.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: I haven't exposed all my stuff yet. I'm still in
• 6:22
  the process of transforming my life. I'm still in the
• 6:25
  process of becoming.
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: Yes, you are Graves, you are unique, you are special,
• 6:33
  you are talented, and you deserve to have everything you want.
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  Speaker 10: And stop listening to the people who.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Tell you don't kill the noise.
• 6:41
  Speaker 12: What do they know?
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Who are they?
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: And when that thing tells you to quit, you look
• 6:47
  at it in his eye and say, I ain't going nowhere.
• 6:49
  I will break you before you break me. You will
• 6:52
  not defeat me.
• 6:53
  Speaker 10: You will not destroy me. You've been through so much
• 6:56
  hell you gonna quit now? You don't quit now. It's
• 7:00
  rob you got two more to go. And when you
• 7:03
  get to success, it's not about still. When you get
• 7:05
  to a certain level of success, it's about standing up.
• 7:08
  It's about you wanna rightly. You can't take me.
• 7:11
  Speaker 8: I'm far too long, I'm far too hard.
• 7:13
  Speaker 10: It's too late now. He should have broken me a
• 7:16
  long time ago.
• 7:17
  Speaker 13: I'm not unbreakable now, man, I think I needed more
• 7:48
  than today.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: I think I needed that video today because man, it's
• 7:54
  been rough. It's been rough on your girl. But you
• 7:56
  know what, I'm not gonna give up. And I meant
• 7:59
  what I said in that post. Regardless of how heavy
• 8:02
  and how hard life gets for me, I won't give
• 8:05
  up this time. I promise you, I'm gonna stick it out.
• 8:07
  I'm gonna stay it. Of course, because God has been
• 8:09
  moving for me, you understand, And I just have to
• 8:13
  share just how great things have been for me. I
• 8:19
  can honestly say I'm in the most stable state of
• 8:24
  mind that I've been in in a long time. And
• 8:29
  I owe it not only to my therapist, but to God.
• 8:33
  I owe it to y'all for y'all supporting me, for
• 8:35
  y'all loving me, for y'all encouraging me, for y'all telling
• 8:38
  me to don't give up. And I'm feeling what I
• 8:42
  need to feel in the moment, you understand. So I
• 8:45
  just want to say thank y'all. I love y'all. Y'all
• 8:49
  are so I'm so appreciative of y'all. Like I don't
• 8:52
  think y'all understand how if it weren't for y'all, I
• 8:57
  don't think where I don't I don't even know where
• 8:58
  I will be again. I just want to just say
• 9:01
  I love y'all and I appreciate y'all. But we are
• 9:05
  definitely definitely jumping in to tonight's conversation. Oh what a
• 9:11
  way to come back. What a way for me to
• 9:13
  come back by discussing Sonya Massey. Let me take a
• 9:25
  deep breath because this, this trial weighs so heavy on
• 9:32
  my mental You understand, a mental health call should not
• 9:39
  turn into someone ending up there. I'm gonna keep it
• 9:50
  together tonight, I promise, But again, mental health is imperative.
• 10:00
  Mental health is a conversation that I'm gonna forever keep going.
• 10:05
  I'm gonna always continue that conversation because mental health is real.
• 10:12
  Mental health happens not just to the rich and famous,
• 10:17
  but also to the unknown. It happens to our friends,
• 10:22
  our families, people we may know, people we work with.
• 10:27
  But we don't discuss this. We don't bring this to
• 10:30
  anybody's attention until someone famous or we see something like
• 10:35
  this on the news. But on July twenty sixth of
• 10:39
  twenty twenty four, Sonya Massey call the police to report
• 10:51
  a prower outside her home at least shit thought it
• 10:54
  was a prower outside her home. Police are they're looking around,
• 11:01
  you know, they're checking and see if anything's going on.
• 11:07
  They you know, sh they entered the door. They they're talking,
• 11:10
  they're speaking to her and in the midst of the
• 11:13
  conversation they see a pot of boiling water on the stove.
• 11:21
  They tell her, you know, cut it off. But Sean
• 11:25
  Grayson came in and was already heightened. He was already
• 11:31
  on a thousand Do we know? Why? No? Do we care?
• 11:34
  Speaker 14: No?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Because at the end of the interaction, Sonya Massey was dead.
• 11:42
  What turned in again? A call to report I believe
• 11:48
  there's someone outside my home ended with Sonya Massy deceased.
• 11:59
  I remember when that story first broke and I reported
• 12:02
  on it, And when I tell you that that it
• 12:06
  bothered me because I'm a person that has dealt with
• 12:11
  or still dealing with mental health issues. I'm a person
• 12:15
  that police have been called to my home because I'm
• 12:19
  in a mental health crisis. Hmm. Let's take that in
• 12:30
  for just a moment again. A phone call to report, Hey,
• 12:36
  I think there's somebody outside my home and Sonya Massey
• 12:41
  ends up deceased again. We're gonna sit on that for
• 12:48
  just for like five or ten seconds. Again, how does
• 12:52
  a call to the police department to report someone outside
• 12:56
  of missus Massey's home ends with her deceased shot in
• 13:04
  the head. There's my sister, Hey, sus, good to see
• 13:11
  your baby. It's so good to see you, sins. I
• 13:13
  hope you're having a beautiful night. Thank you for tuning in,
• 13:16
  Thank you for coming and hanging out with your sisternight.
• 13:20
  Like I said, it feels great to be back in
• 13:21
  my space again. Everyone that's tuning in, y'all, welcome back
• 13:26
  or welcome to black Girl. Interrupt the podcast. It's your
• 13:29
  favorite girl, Ash and I'm coming back and I'm kicking
• 13:34
  the door in. But tonight's conversation, we're disgusting the Sonya
• 13:40
  Massy murder trial verdict, the murder trial of Sean Grayson,
• 13:45
  the police officer that took the beautiful Sonya Massy away
• 13:50
  from us? Again, how did we get here? How did
• 14:00
  we get on this side of the coin? How did
• 14:03
  again that one phone call to say, hey, I think
• 14:07
  there's someone outside my home. I hear somebody too, a
• 14:13
  woman being on a line. So I am gonna put
• 14:17
  a trigger warning up for those that are not familiar
• 14:21
  with the Sonya Massy with Sonya Massy story, here we
• 14:28
  go and then we're gonna jump back into the conversation.
• 14:35
  Speaker 9: Well now to a disturbing case out of Illinois involving
• 14:38
  a woman who called nine to one one for help,
• 14:41
  only to be shot and killed by a responding deputy
• 14:44
  this morning. New body camera video shows how the ordeal unfolded,
• 14:48
  and we do want to warn you that this video
• 14:50
  is disturbing. Maggie Vespa is in Chicago with the latest.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I heard somebody outside.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we checked your house, we checked your backyard.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I walked all the way through all this morning.
• 15:01
  Speaker 15: An Illinois woman's last moment seen in chilling detail on
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  newly released body camera video. Prosecutors say on the morning
• 15:09
  of July sixth, thirty six year old Sonia Massey called
• 15:12
  nine one one about a possible intruder. When two deputies
• 15:15
  arrived at her Springfield home, she at times appeared confused.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to help you, any help with nothing.
• 15:23
  Speaker 12: I Just.
• 15:26
  Speaker 15: Minutes later, Massey picks up what appears to be a
• 15:29
  pot of boiling water from her stove. The deputy on screen,
• 15:32
  identified by prosecutors as Sean Grayson.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Face shut shuts far the.
• 15:50
  Speaker 15: Coroner confirming the mother of two was fatally shot in
• 15:53
  the head, her body blurred by police in the video.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I'm not taking pot boiling water.
• 16:00
  Speaker 15: Demanding charges against Deputy Grayson have mounted since President Biden
• 16:04
  this week, writing in a statement, Sonia's family deserves justice.
• 16:08
  Speaker 6: He walked around the counter to get a better shot.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: If you have feared for your life, you don't walk
• 16:16
  towards the person.
• 16:18
  Speaker 15: Civil rights attorney Ben Crump speaking alongside Massey's family, who
• 16:22
  says she'd suffered from mental health issues.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: But you know what I want. I want justice for
• 16:28
  my baby.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:31
  Speaker 15: Grayson was fired from his job with the Sheriff's Department,
• 16:34
  and a grand jury has now indicted him on three
• 16:36
  counts of first degree murder, his attorney declining to comment
• 16:40
  when reached by NBC News. Now the world seeing for
• 16:43
  themselves how one woman's call for help took such a
• 16:47
  tragic turn.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: What is your last name?
• 16:52
  Speaker 9: That was Maggie Vestipo reporting right now, Sonia Macy's family
• 16:56
  and activists across the country are demanding justice.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Let's take that in for just a moment. I need
• 17:08
  everyone to process what we just witnessed. Mhm. Seeing that
• 17:23
  video and knowing the outcome, it's very heartbreaking to me
• 17:34
  because you could look at miss Massey and tell she
• 17:41
  was very disoriented. I know, earlier that day or I
• 17:49
  believe the day prior she was in the hospital, and
• 17:57
  then only you could tell oh yah, I just let's
• 18:09
  let's let's let's process this really quickly. Has us absolutely
• 18:18
  justice for Sonia Massy. But I'm gonna give you the update.
• 18:21
  It's a lot of people that did not follow the trial,
• 18:25
  but there was a verdict that was rendered a couple
• 18:29
  of weeks ago, and we're definitely gonna get into that,
• 18:32
  but I want to first, let's let's process what we
• 18:36
  just saw. We saw a woman that appeared to not
• 18:43
  really she was very disoriented. You know when when you're
• 18:49
  really not in a good state of mind and you
• 18:51
  have a person that's telling you to do this, do this,
• 18:53
  do this, do this, do this, it confuses you even more.
• 18:57
  And I can only speak for me and my situation.
• 19:01
  When I had my my situation back at June, I
• 19:04
  was disoriented, you know, I didn't know what to do.
• 19:12
  So here we have a woman, a mother, a daughter,
• 19:15
  or sister, a friend, a cousin who calls for help
• 19:22
  but ends up deceased. But I want to shift the
• 19:27
  focus to Sean Grayson, the deputy that was on the scene,
• 19:35
  the deputy that pulled the trigger. That's what I wanted
• 19:41
  to address because what I don't understand is this man
• 19:45
  has had several refractions but was still allowed to be
• 19:50
  on the force. One of the conversations I had a
• 19:56
  couple of weeks ago when we first got the verdict
• 19:58
  was we see the happened all the time. Police are
• 20:03
  called to a distress call, and it really wasn't a
• 20:07
  distress call because she was really calling for help, because
• 20:10
  she really thought she heard somebody outside. And here she is,
• 20:13
  this woman in her home alone, calling for help, calling
• 20:22
  for help. Officer Grayson tells her, put the pot down.
• 20:29
  Put the pot down. He tells her, I'll shoot you
• 20:32
  in your fucking face. Excuse my language, but that's what
• 20:36
  he said to her. How dare you as a police officer,
• 20:40
  you were supposed to come and protect and serve. You
• 20:43
  saw her putting the pot down. To me, it looked
• 20:45
  like she was trying to dump the water in the
• 20:47
  sink out the pot. I don't believe that she was
• 20:49
  trying to throw this pot at him. But the moment
• 20:53
  she said I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,
• 20:58
  all hell broke groups. Let me tell you something. Miss
• 21:04
  Massey knew a demon was in her home. She knew
• 21:06
  the devil had entered her doors. I'm just gonna go
• 21:10
  ahead and see it. Anyone that is spiritually inclined that
• 21:15
  can see, you know a demon when you see one,
• 21:19
  you understand. The people that aren't spiritually inclined or in
• 21:22
  tuned you can't see what she saw. So I honestly
• 21:26
  believe when she said I rebuke you in the name
• 21:28
  of Jesus, she saw a demon standing in front of her,
• 21:33
  and that triggered him. That provoked the demon, and the
• 21:36
  demon reacted. Because how dare you rebuke me? You understand
• 21:43
  I must say that. I must say that because a
• 21:47
  lot of people are afraid to say things, but I'm not.
• 21:49
  You understand, Miss Massey knew what walked into her home.
• 21:53
  She knew he was a demon. Because again, if you
• 21:56
  go back and you watch the video, I'm not gonna
• 21:58
  replay it again because it's too triggering, not only for
• 22:00
  me but for y'all. But if you go back. Watch
• 22:03
  the video when she said go back when he initially
• 22:07
  got there, how aggressive he was with her. How dare
• 22:11
  you then you told her when she said I rebuke
• 22:19
  you in the name of Jesus, she said I he said,
• 22:22
  I will shoot you in your fucking face. Let's let's
• 22:27
  let let let you know what. Let that process for
• 22:30
  just the moment. That's what he told her, I will
• 22:36
  shoot you in your fucking face, and predep proceeded to
• 22:40
  do just that. How dare you why you are a officer?
• 22:51
  How dare you? But again, this deputy has had major refractions.
• 23:01
  He was let go from one police department for some
• 23:07
  infractions and was moved to another one to wreak havoc
• 23:11
  on another person. We see this far too often police officers.
• 23:19
  They will commit crimes, police department covers them up, and
• 23:25
  to keep it from going public, they'll just move them
• 23:27
  over to another department as if nothing happened, instead of
• 23:31
  holding him accountable for his prior infractions. This man was
• 23:36
  let go was let go from one police department for
• 23:42
  chasing down somebody a high speed chase. Hello, let's wake
• 23:49
  that up. But here we have Sonya Massey who calls
• 23:54
  for help, and unfortunately a monster was sent to her
• 23:59
  home to take her out. As I watched the trial, Jesus,
• 24:11
  hey baby, I love you, big baby. Let me tell you,
• 24:14
  I love you big big I love you infinity. Absolutely.
• 24:19
  That wasn't no one but the devil, and she saw that.
• 24:23
  That's what triggered him. That's what incited the demon in
• 24:26
  him to react. When she said, oh, I rebuke you
• 24:30
  in the name of Jesus. That provoked him. That triggered
• 24:35
  him because he walked around the counter and shot her
• 24:42
  three times, once in the feast in the head. I'm
• 24:46
  so sorry. Let that soap for just a moment again.
• 24:57
  He walked around the counter. Missus Massey was crouching down.
• 25:04
  How were you in fear of your life? And then
• 25:10
  after you shot her, you failed to render aid. You
• 25:15
  understand you failed. You told them don't even bother calling
• 25:21
  anybody to come help her. They may repeat that because
• 25:29
  I don't think anybody heard me. In the back you
• 25:33
  told them not to render aid. How dare you? How
• 25:44
  dare you? I want to know your thoughts. Drop your
• 25:49
  thoughts in the common I want to know what are
• 25:51
  your thoughts Before we get a little further into the
• 25:54
  conversation and we start discussing the verdict. Drop your comments,
• 26:01
  what do you think about this? We have a young
• 26:04
  mother taken and she called for help, She needed some assistance,
• 26:14
  she needed some help. I think somebody's outside my home again.
• 26:22
  I'm not going to re show that video again because
• 26:27
  looking at it, that was the first time I had
• 26:29
  looked at it since it all happened, because that was
• 26:34
  a trigger for me. Juli says, definitely, singing. Absolutely, she
• 26:41
  saw that. Yosha says, she's seen what entered her home
• 26:48
  and it wasn't spiritually inclined. Absolutely, And that's what I
• 26:52
  mean when I say, when you have a person that's
• 26:54
  in tune with their spirituality, a person that spiritually inclined
• 26:58
  can see the and a person, no matter how many
• 27:03
  mass she'll try to put on my love, anyone that
• 27:06
  spiritually inclined can see through that. And missus Massey saw
• 27:11
  through the facade. She knew, Lord, they didn't send a
• 27:15
  demon to my home. She asked God, rebuke him, rebuke
• 27:22
  him Jesus. She said that I rebuke you in the
• 27:26
  name of Jesus. Is what Miss Massey said that day
• 27:32
  and the moment she said it, the demon took her
• 27:36
  life for what. She didn't pose an imminent threat. She
• 27:44
  was crouching down. But then I heard the people say, oh,
• 27:48
  she was trying to throw the water on how when
• 27:53
  she was crouching down, Baby, she didn't even have the pot.
• 27:55
  No more, I believe what Miss Massey was trying to Again,
• 28:00
  y'all go back and watch the video for yourself. I
• 28:04
  believe she was trying to pour the water out of
• 28:06
  the pot. And then boom, boom boom, three shots, one
• 28:15
  striking miss massing in the head. Let that process for
• 28:23
  just a moment. Let that process for just a moment,
• 28:35
  because here I am m hmm again a person that
• 28:42
  has dealt with a lot of mental health issues and
• 28:47
  then we see this happen. This is not the first
• 28:50
  time we've seen police officers on a life a person
• 28:56
  going through a mental health crisis. Because for what? Why
• 29:05
  did you come that way? Let me say this, if
• 29:13
  you don't want to be a police officer, if you
• 29:15
  do not want to really stand behind your badge to
• 29:18
  protect and serve, don't join the force. Go find you
• 29:22
  something else to do. Because now it's the intermixing of
• 29:28
  the good cops and the bad cops. It's almost like
• 29:29
  now we can't tell the difference between the two. But
• 29:35
  one thing I do want to say. I applaud Sean
• 29:38
  Grayson's partner, the officer that was with him inside the home.
• 29:48
  I want to say thank you to him. So again,
• 29:55
  y'all let me know your thoughts because now we're about
• 29:58
  to get into the verdict. Yo, she'd say they were attacked. Absolutely,
• 30:06
  she said they treat animals better than humans with mental
• 30:09
  health issues. You better say that one more time because
• 30:13
  again we see this. Patrick Warren Sr. Mental health issues officer,
• 30:21
  called out he hands up deceased. But anybody could, like
• 30:28
  I say, go back and watch the video on your own,
• 30:31
  because I'm not gonna play the video again again it's
• 30:33
  too triggering for me. But I want you to go
• 30:38
  back and watch that video and you tell me the
• 30:44
  Sonya Massi looked like she was posing any type of
• 30:46
  imminent threat to anybody. This baby was crouched down. She
• 30:52
  was crouched down. He literally had to go around the
• 30:56
  corner and fire three shots, one of which h her
• 31:00
  in the face.
• 31:05
  Speaker 14: H What do we do?
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Where do we go from here? Now? Because there's absolutely
• 31:18
  no reason Sonya Massy should not still be here with us. Mhmm.
• 31:31
  I'm letting this process for a moment. I'm letting it
• 31:33
  cook a little bit. I'm letting it simmer, not cook,
• 31:36
  let me let it simmer for a moment, because again, Sonya,
• 31:44
  Massy should still here, should still be here with us,
• 31:51
  all because one monster decided he was in fear of
• 31:58
  his life. So he says, but you proceed to tell
• 32:05
  her you're gonna shoot her in the fucking face. That's
• 32:07
  what you told her. That's what you said to her,
• 32:11
  and you proceeded and you did just that. You went
• 32:17
  in to me. And this is just my own personal opinion.
• 32:21
  When I watched the video, the entire video, it's almost
• 32:27
  like he came in ready to do something. Again. This
• 32:36
  man has had previous infractions with another police agency, but
• 32:46
  all they did was they swept it under the rug
• 32:48
  and moved him on and allowed him to apply and
• 32:51
  work at a different police agency. This is what we
• 33:00
  see on a regular We see this all the time
• 33:04
  all the time. When does this stop? What do we
• 33:11
  have to do as a people for this to stop?
• 33:18
  Because we see it all the time, and it's heartbreaking,
• 33:24
  it's devastating, absolutely, Yosha says, they have all the ingredients.
• 33:33
  We gotta let it simmer, and that he was very
• 33:40
  aggressive from the door. When I first saw the video,
• 33:43
  when this first happened, and when they finally released the
• 33:48
  bodycam footage, and I watched it in its whole entirety,
• 33:52
  from the moment they arrived, when they were searching around
• 33:55
  the house they found the car with the broken window,
• 33:58
  all the way to when the paramedics got there. How
• 34:06
  dare you miss the Grayson not allow them? You told
• 34:10
  them they didn't either rend their aid or something to
• 34:15
  that effect. You didn't allow them. You said, oh, she's
• 34:21
  already gone. This was a year ago. A year ago,
• 34:35
  so that brings us to the current. Because there was
• 34:41
  a trial. Mister Grayson was charged with three council first
• 34:46
  degree murder. Three Let that soak for just a moment.
• 34:56
  Three council first degree murder. Mhm, excuse me, only to
• 35:09
  be found guilty of second degree murder. I'm gonna let
• 35:19
  y'all think about what I just said. Sean Greason was
• 35:30
  found guilty of three counts of second degree murder. Three
• 35:39
  only three, I'm sorry, only second degree murder? How does
• 35:52
  that feel? That's tight? That one stinks? They had enough
• 36:04
  evidence to convict him a first degree murder. Again, I
• 36:13
  want to say thank you to his partner who testified
• 36:19
  on his behalf, not on I'm so sorry, not on
• 36:23
  his behalf. The partner testified against him, and the partner
• 36:27
  said I was more afraid of Sean Greyson than I
• 36:32
  was of Sonya Massey. Hold that real quick. Just hold
• 36:44
  that little piece real quick. What I just gave y'all.
• 36:50
  The partner, the other officer that was in the video
• 36:53
  that arrived on the scene with officers, I'm so sorry,
• 36:57
  Deputy great Well, Sean Greyson testified and said I was
• 37:04
  more afraid of him than I was of her. He said,
• 37:08
  the only reason I pulled my gun is because he
• 37:11
  pulled his gun. He said, Grayson came in with his
• 37:15
  hand on his gun. Already, take that real quick. I'm
• 37:25
  gonna leave that with y'all for just a moment. Your
• 37:33
  own partner testified and said I was more afraid of
• 37:40
  him than I was of Sho Sonya mass So that
• 37:45
  to me speaks volumes. I applaud this officer for representing
• 37:55
  exactly what that badge is supposed to represent to protect
• 38:00
  and serve. I had to give him a round of
• 38:10
  applause on me. So here we go as the verdict
• 38:19
  came down, and then we're going to jump back into
• 38:23
  the conversation.
• 38:29
  Speaker 16: We have breaking news in the Sean Grayson murder trial.
• 38:32
  There is a verdict.
• 38:33
  Speaker 17: The former Sangamon County sheriff's deputy has been found guilty
• 38:37
  of second degree murder. It took the jury almost eleven
• 38:40
  hours of deliberations to come to the decision in the
• 38:42
  shooting death of Sonia messe Our. Brandon Morano is live
• 38:46
  at the courthouse in Peoria. Brandon, give us the very latest.
• 38:52
  Speaker 18: So, like you said, Sean Grayson has been found guilty
• 38:55
  of second degree murder, not guilty on first degree murder.
• 38:58
  Sentencing has been scared for January twenty ninth in Sangamon County. Now,
• 39:03
  I want to tell you about Grayson's family and Massey's
• 39:06
  family entering the courtroom as the verdict.
• 39:09
  Speaker 15: Before the verdict was read.
• 39:10
  Speaker 18: Rather, Grayson's family could be seen praying and almost hyperventilating
• 39:17
  in the courtroom before the verdict was read. Massey's family
• 39:20
  could be seen with tears streaming down their faces and
• 39:23
  holding hands before the verdict was read. Now, this morning,
• 39:27
  the jury finished deliberations after more than eleven hours. Really,
• 39:31
  I was in the courtroom at nine am when the
• 39:33
  jurors addressed the room and explained to deliberations were continuing. Ultimately,
• 39:38
  they had to decide if Grayson was justified or not
• 39:40
  in the shooting death of Massey. It happened in July
• 39:43
  of twenty twenty four when she called for help regarding
• 39:46
  a prowler. Now you may remember, Grayson was initially charged
• 39:50
  with first degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and
• 39:53
  official misconduct. At the start of the trial, the judge
• 39:56
  dismissed the last two, leaving only three counts of first
• 39:59
  degree murder. Then the option of second degree murder was
• 40:02
  introduced by the defense. That's ultimately what the jury decided on.
• 40:06
  We're gonna have a lot more updates and a press
• 40:09
  conference from Sonya Massey's family coming up momentarily right here
• 40:14
  in front of the courthouse. Jennifer Brandon.
• 40:16
  Speaker 17: Question, you talked about the emotions that you were seeing
• 40:19
  before the verdict was read. I want to start with
• 40:22
  what were you observing when the verdict came down. What
• 40:26
  was Sean Grayson's reaction to that?
• 40:30
  Speaker 18: So, Sean Grayson was sitting very still, very quiet on
• 40:34
  the defense table, seated next to his defense attorneys Mark
• 40:37
  Wykoff and Daniel Foltz. He was sitting quietly when the
• 40:41
  verdict was read, did not move, did not jump, you know,
• 40:45
  didn't really react to it. His family rather, after it
• 40:49
  was read could be heard sobbing right behind us. We
• 40:52
  were sitting right in front of them. Massy's family could
• 40:55
  be seen putting their heads in their hands and consoling
• 40:59
  each other. So that was really the you know, the
• 41:02
  emotions that were that were going through. Very strong emotions
• 41:04
  on both sides, you know, of this case. This has
• 41:06
  been a week long of trial and more than eleven
• 41:10
  hours of jury deliberation, so very emotional before for everybody
• 41:14
  involved here and before we came in, the court security
• 41:17
  officer you know, addressed the families, addressed the media and
• 41:22
  and said, you know, this is going to be hard
• 41:24
  for everyone, uh, and kind of got everyone ready before
• 41:28
  before we entered that court room.
• 41:29
  Speaker 17: Jennifer, there is heavy security outside of that Peoria County
• 41:32
  courthouse we were seeing before. There are snipers on the
• 41:36
  roots of buildings out there, a lot of police. Protesters
• 41:39
  have been out there for days. What is the feeling
• 41:42
  that you're getting from them now that there's a verdict.
• 41:46
  Speaker 18: So the protesters were actually out here on the courthouse
• 41:49
  with a megaphone when we came out. They were saying,
• 41:52
  you know, things like not guilty, was was not read,
• 41:56
  and that you know he has been found guilty and
• 41:58
  it is second degree but that Grayson has been has
• 42:02
  been found guilty there and right now they're back on
• 42:06
  the corner. They've been averaging about twenty to twenty five
• 42:09
  a day out here, and I'd say that's probably where
• 42:11
  the numbers are right now as well. But right now
• 42:14
  we're just waiting for the Massy family and members of
• 42:17
  the defense and prosecution to come out and give statements.
• 42:21
  Speaker 17: All right, Brandon, thank you so much. And as he said,
• 42:23
  the Massy family will be holding a news conference shortly
• 42:26
  and we will bring you that live when that.
• 42:27
  Speaker 16: Happens, and so then we will send you back to
• 42:30
  regular program.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: So for just a moment again, he was found not
• 42:49
  guilty at first agree murder, but they found him guilty
• 42:52
  of second degree murder. Let that marinate a moment. Let
• 43:00
  let me let me let us rub that in a
• 43:02
  little bit again. Sean Grayson was found guilty of second
• 43:10
  degree murder, my first degree, but second second degree. I
• 43:17
  want you to let that, let that digest for a moment.
• 43:19
  I want to know what are your thoughts. How do
• 43:22
  you feel about that? Do you feel like he should
• 43:24
  have been convicted of first degree murder? Shouldn't have been
• 43:27
  convicted of set? You know, did they get the verdict right?
• 43:30
  What do you think? Because I can honestly tell you
• 43:33
  and easily tell you, I felt like he should have
• 43:36
  been convicted the first degree murdered because if you go
• 43:41
  back and you look at the video again, he was
• 43:46
  the aggressive from the beginning. You came, you arrived at
• 43:53
  that a resident at that residence on a thousand, when
• 43:58
  you walked in that door, you were probably at ten thousand.
• 44:04
  Because you have to be in some outrageous state of
• 44:08
  mind to tell a person you're going to shoot them
• 44:12
  in the fucking face, and then you proceed to do
• 44:14
  just that. You proceeded to do exactly what you told
• 44:25
  missus Massey you were going to do. You told her,
• 44:30
  you told her you were gonna shoot her in the face.
• 44:35
  You did again. When I first saw this try, when
• 44:44
  this incident first happened, I cried not only for Sonia.
• 44:52
  I cried with her family. I wept with her family
• 45:03
  because that could have been one of our loved ones.
• 45:05
  You understand, that could have been me, That could have
• 45:07
  been you. That could have been one of your loved ones.
• 45:08
  That could have been your mother, your daughter, and your sister,
• 45:11
  and your cousin, your auntie, your niece, that could have
• 45:13
  been anyone. I wept for her family. I wept for
• 45:20
  her children, because why what does she do? And then
• 45:32
  it gets even nastier because Sean grace and testified. Hmmm,
• 45:44
  he got Let me tell you something, he had the
• 45:47
  audacity follow me, everybody follow me to get on the
• 45:54
  stand and testified. You gotta understand and testify it. I
• 46:07
  see there are some new viewers. Hey hey, hey, and
• 46:10
  we're gonna get back into the conversation. But hey hey, hey, y'all.
• 46:13
  Welcome new viewers. Thank y'all for tuning in to another
• 46:16
  episode of Black Girl Interrupted. It's your girl, Ash. I
• 46:21
  am the host. I am the creator of Black Girl
• 46:24
  Interrupted podcast. Go ahead, kick your shoes off, baby, relaxed,
• 46:28
  get your water, your tea, your wine, whatever your drink
• 46:30
  of preference is, and sit back and chill with us tonight.
• 46:34
  Tonight's conversation, I'm discussing the Sonya Massy murder Trout Murdy.
• 46:40
  I'm so sorry Sean Grayson murder Trout who was convicted
• 46:45
  of I believe three counts of second three murder and
• 46:48
  the murder of Sonya Massy. Thank y'all for tuning in,
• 46:57
  Thank y'all for coming in to show love and support.
• 47:03
  But again, Sean Grayson got on the stand and testified.
• 47:13
  I believe the prosecution asked why didn't he use the taser.
• 47:20
  I want somebody in the comments to ask me what
• 47:22
  his response was. I just want one person in the
• 47:25
  comments drop in the comments and asked me what his
• 47:29
  response was to not using his taser. I believe it
• 47:32
  was the prosecutor that asked that question. You or she
• 47:36
  say yes indeed, But I want someone to ask me
• 47:41
  what did he say? Sean Grayson said, I didn't use
• 47:49
  my taser because I didn't think it would penetrate due
• 47:54
  to the thickness of her lowthly. I'm gonna leave that
• 47:59
  with y'all just moment. I'm gonna sit back. Give me
• 48:04
  about thirty second, give me about fifteen seconds. I'm going
• 48:07
  to let that marinate for y'all. So Sean Grayson says,
• 48:20
  I didn't use the taser because I didn't think it
• 48:23
  would penetrate due to the thickness of her clothing. So
• 48:30
  you figured shooting her would be better, right, You figured
• 48:38
  that was that was the best that was the best route.
• 48:44
  Apparently your partner didn't feel like she was posing an
• 48:48
  imminent threat because he could have pulled his taser. But you,
• 48:56
  mister Grayson, you wanted to be the head high, you
• 49:00
  want to be the king. You want to beat the
• 49:02
  balls and called the shots. Let me run that back
• 49:14
  one more time for you. You stated that you didn't
• 49:22
  use your taser because you didn't feel like it would
• 49:25
  penetrate due to the thickness of her clothing. Anyone that
• 49:31
  watched that video couldn't see she had on a satin
• 49:35
  looked like a satin nightgown with a satin robe on
• 49:38
  the top. So you mean to tell me that taser
• 49:43
  wouldn't penetrate that. I've seen some police videos training. Let
• 49:51
  me go back. I've seen some police training videos where
• 49:56
  people have had on jeans and the taser prongs were
• 50:02
  easily able to penetrate through blue jeans. Dennel and we
• 50:09
  know how thick dinner is. Again, we know the thickness
• 50:18
  of DNIL. We see these police training videos. So I'm
• 50:24
  gonna run you all the clip. I believe this is
• 50:27
  of him testifying, and then we're gonna get at go ahead,
• 50:32
  and we're gonna continue on with the conversation and get
• 50:34
  ready around it out for the night. So yeah, we go.
• 50:40
  Speaker 19: Testimony, he continues. In the murder trial of the former
• 50:42
  Illinois deputy accused of killing Sonya Massey in her home
• 50:45
  last year. Sean Grayson took the stand in his own
• 50:48
  defense this morning, and he recalled the night of the shooting,
• 50:51
  stating he believed Massey was threatening to throw a pot
• 50:54
  of boiling water on him. So prosecutors asked Grayson about
• 50:59
  his account of the shoe, which was written several days
• 51:01
  after Massey was killed. Grayson's partner the night of the
• 51:06
  shooting already testified last week, saying he was not afraid
• 51:09
  of Massey, instead, he was afraid of Grayson. Grayson faces
• 51:13
  a maximum of life in prison for three counts of
• 51:17
  first degree murder. Anna Scheckter, Senior Coordinating Producer, was CBS
• 51:21
  News Crime and Public Safety Unit, joining US Live Now
• 51:24
  and how shocking was it that Grayson actually took the stand.
• 51:28
  Speaker 12: Well, I was really surprised this morning. We thought maybe
• 51:33
  he might just to give his state of mind, but
• 51:36
  then boom, nine oh five am he sat in that chair,
• 51:41
  and we were all who have been following this case
• 51:43
  so closely, just really shocked.
• 51:46
  Speaker 9: Wow.
• 51:47
  Speaker 12: Sean Grayson himself is on the stand right now testifying
• 51:52
  after all of these witnesses have been explaining that Sonia
• 51:56
  Massey was actually not a threat. So this was a
• 52:01
  very big moment for those of us who've been following
• 52:04
  this case now for more than a year.
• 52:06
  Speaker 19: So Grayson said he used his gun rather than a
• 52:09
  taser because it would have been ineffective during the incident.
• 52:12
  So use of force expert also testified that Grayson's decision
• 52:15
  was justified. So talk about that part of the testimony.
• 52:20
  Speaker 12: Sure, it's a great question because this was actually new
• 52:23
  information we know from the reports filed right or in
• 52:28
  the month after this event, that he said he felt
• 52:31
  threatened by that boiling pot of water, but we never
• 52:33
  knew he was even considering or thought about potentially using
• 52:37
  a taser instead of a gun. He was asked this
• 52:39
  question on the stand today and he said that he
• 52:42
  was worried that a taser wouldn't work because a taser
• 52:45
  has to go through clothing and actually clutch onto the
• 52:49
  skin essentially, that's how it works, and that he says
• 52:54
  that he actually took the time to think that through
• 52:57
  and realize that taser wouldn't work and instead used a gun.
• 53:00
  So we'll see how a jury reacts to that if
• 53:04
  they believe that. But that jumped out at me today
• 53:08
  because I've never seen any discussion of a taser being used.
• 53:12
  But yes, you're absolutely right that the defense did call
• 53:15
  a use of force expert to the stand who said
• 53:18
  that Grayson was acting in self defense and de escalating
• 53:23
  the situation by firing that firearm because of that pot
• 53:27
  of boiling water. That was his take, and the defense
• 53:31
  is leaning heavily into that. That is essentially their entire defense.
• 53:37
  Speaker 19: Anna Scheckter, Anna, thank you.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: Let that sit in your spirit for just a moment,
• 53:47
  just let us sit there, just think about that. Of course,
• 53:53
  the defense is supposed to, you know, go hard for
• 53:58
  their client. But how dare you say he acted in
• 54:04
  self defense because you could have used If you go again,
• 54:09
  go back and watch the video again. I'm not gonna
• 54:11
  replay the video tonight was my first and last time
• 54:14
  looking at that video because again it's very triggering to me.
• 54:19
  But for you to say you didn't feel like it
• 54:24
  would be effective because it has to penetrate skin. So
• 54:30
  you mean to tell me, hm hm that that little nightie,
• 54:40
  the little satin you know, gown or robe she had on,
• 54:45
  wouldn't have been able to penetrate her skin. You could
• 54:47
  see her skin through the robe. You could see it
• 54:50
  was very sheer. Satin is very thin. You could poke
• 54:55
  somebody with a safety pin and it'll penetrate. You went
• 55:02
  in there with the intent to kill. I know some
• 55:06
  may say no, but if you go look at the video, asked,
• 55:09
  so she was, this lady was crouching down. This man
• 55:14
  had to come around. This is Sonya Massy. He had
• 55:17
  to come around. And if you saw he came around
• 55:20
  and me shot that way. Now I'm not no expert, okay,
• 55:26
  but you can't convince me that that man was in
• 55:28
  fear of his life. And then you heard them say
• 55:32
  the partner testified and said he was more afraid of
• 55:38
  Sean Grayson than he was of Sonya Massy. What does
• 55:44
  that tell you? What does that tell you? This man
• 55:52
  went in there with the intent. He knew what he
• 55:56
  went in there to do. Maybe upon arrival, maybe that
• 56:01
  didn't cross his mind, but maybe once he walked in
• 56:05
  that door and he saw her, and he knew that
• 56:07
  this woman was very spirtually inclined. And she could see
• 56:13
  through the badge and the uniform. She saw that she
• 56:18
  had encountered a demon. She saw that she had encountered Satan.
• 56:22
  She saw Satan had entered her home. She saw this,
• 56:29
  She witnessed this. You understand, she witnessed this, and she
• 56:38
  ended up dead. Your partner, testify, y'all. I want try
• 56:46
  to remember his partner, The officer that was in the
• 56:52
  police video, the officer that was with Grason upon arrival
• 56:56
  all the way to the end, said I was more
• 57:01
  afraid of him than I was of her. And you
• 57:06
  can't tell me that that does not speak of volumes.
• 57:11
  You can't tell me that that doesn't bother you, because
• 57:17
  it absolutely bothers me. Again, Sonya, Massy should still hear,
• 57:28
  should still be here with us. Why Sean Grayson decided
• 57:33
  to do what he did will never know, will never
• 57:38
  know the truth, because he'll continue perpetuating this life, saying, oh,
• 57:42
  I was in fear of my life. Oh, I thought
• 57:44
  she was gonna throw this boiling pot of water on me.
• 57:47
  To me, it looked like she was trying to pour
• 57:49
  the water down the dream look he told her, cut
• 57:51
  the water off, you know, looked like she was trying
• 57:55
  to take the pot of water and put it in
• 57:57
  the sea.
• 57:57
  Speaker 12: To me.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: But again, the moment she said, I rebuke you in
• 58:06
  the name of Jesus, her life ended. Her life ended.
• 58:17
  Want y'all to think about that for a moment, because again,
• 58:23
  Sonia Massey could be me, you, a cousin, a mom,
• 58:28
  a sister, an AINTI something. We all know how certain
• 58:42
  situations end disgraceful, disgusting, devastating, devastating. So we got averted.
• 59:06
  He was found guilty of second degree murder. One thing
• 59:13
  I could see before I get to the other part
• 59:16
  of the conversation is I commend his family. The family
• 59:22
  of Sean Grayson went to the massive family and apologized.
• 59:31
  They walked over and they apologized. So no one wins
• 59:42
  in this situation. You have two families broken. Only difference
• 59:51
  between those two families one can still go see their
• 59:56
  loved one. The other family has to go to the cemetery. Yeah,
• 1:00:06
  so chew on that for a moment. Again, two families broken,
• 1:00:13
  No one wins. But what separates these two families. Sonya
• 1:00:20
  Massey is dead. She has to go see her. Her
• 1:00:24
  family has to go visit her in the cemetery, while
• 1:00:27
  mister Grayson's family can go visit him in jail. But
• 1:00:35
  the disgusting part of all of this is so Sean
• 1:00:39
  Grayson is scheduled to be sentenced on January twenty ninth
• 1:00:43
  or twenty twenty six, and could face anywhere from four
• 1:00:48
  to twenty years in prison, four to twenty years for
• 1:00:56
  taking someone's life. Of course, they do have to take
• 1:01:02
  into consideration his history, but I'm praying that he gets
• 1:01:09
  the max possible. I pray that they do not put
• 1:01:15
  him in protective custody. I want him to be amongst
• 1:01:20
  the population. Because you took a mother away, you took
• 1:01:28
  a daughter away, you took a sister away, you took
• 1:01:32
  a cousin away, you took an anti away, you took
• 1:01:35
  a friend away. You took a human being's life that
• 1:01:39
  polls no imminent threat to you, all because of your ego,
• 1:01:52
  All because of that demonic spirit that lies within your soul.
• 1:01:58
  That's what you did. That's what you did. But again,
• 1:02:08
  Gracing is scheduled to be sentenced on January twenty ninth
• 1:02:11
  of twenty twenty six, and again he's facing anywhere between
• 1:02:15
  four and twenty years. I pray that they give him
• 1:02:19
  the max. I pray he gets the twenty years. I
• 1:02:24
  pray he gets the twenty years with no parole. I
• 1:02:28
  pray that he has to do the full twenty I
• 1:02:31
  pray because we have to include the other infractions from
• 1:02:35
  the other police agencies. He was doing one hundred and
• 1:02:41
  twenty miles per hour chasing down a suspect and couldn't
• 1:02:45
  justify why he did it. But again, I commend the
• 1:02:55
  Grace and family for going. I commend y'all for going
• 1:03:04
  to Signya, going to Sigya Massey's family and apologizing. Thank
• 1:03:13
  you for holding your son accountable for his actions. So
• 1:03:23
  as we get ready to bring this to a close,
• 1:03:24
  I want to end with this before I tell you
• 1:03:26
  what's next and Big for Black Girl interrupt their podcast,
• 1:03:30
  I want to end it with this one. Here we go.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 3: Indeed, serious justice, not a miscarriage of justice.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: That happened here in be Oria.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 20: Second degree murder.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: That is not right. That is not justice for anybody's family.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 21: An Illinois jury found Showan Grayson guilty of one case
• 1:04:00
  out of second degree murder. He's the former sheriff's deputy
• 1:04:03
  convicted of shooting and killing Sonya Massey while responding to
• 1:04:07
  her nine one one call. CBS Weekend New z Anka
• 1:04:10
  and National correspondent Jerika Duncan was in the courtroom for
• 1:04:13
  this trial and joins us now from Peoria, Illinois. Daka,
• 1:04:17
  what happened?
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 14: Well, good morning to you, Arrow, good morning to everyone
• 1:04:22
  you know. Being in that courtroom. After those jurors deliberated
• 1:04:26
  for about twelve hours, it was silent in that courtroom.
• 1:04:30
  The Massi family didn't have much to say, but obviously
• 1:04:33
  they had a lot to say once they got outside
• 1:04:35
  of that courthouse.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 6: He was in six police departments in three and a
• 1:04:40
  half years.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: That is shameful.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 14: Sonja Massey's father, James Wilburn, was emotional and frustrated after
• 1:04:49
  Wednesday's verdict. Sean Grayson was facing three counts of first
• 1:04:53
  degree murder, but a jury found him guilty on one
• 1:04:56
  lesser count of second degree murder, sparing Grayson a possible
• 1:05:00
  life sentence.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 5: He told my child he was shooter in the ef
• 1:05:04
  and face and he did it and all we got
• 1:05:08
  was a second degree murder conviction out of this.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: We're you any help with.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 14: The former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy shot Massey down in
• 1:05:16
  her kitchen after she called nine to one one to
• 1:05:18
  check on a suspected prowler. Grayson testified that he viewed
• 1:05:22
  Massey's pot of boiling water as a threat and was
• 1:05:25
  trained to use force to gain compliance. The trial, which
• 1:05:29
  began last week, largely focused on disturbing body camera footage
• 1:05:33
  recorded by Grayson's partner in the early morning hours of
• 1:05:36
  the deadly twenty twenty four incidents. Prosecutors said Grayson failed
• 1:05:43
  to render medical aid to Massey right after the shooting.
• 1:05:47
  After the verdict, we sat down with Massey's father, cousin,
• 1:05:50
  and family friend to the Grayson family. What do you
• 1:05:54
  say to them?
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 22: I feel sorry for them. The mother came over and
• 1:05:58
  apologized and she said, we do not raise him that way,
• 1:06:01
  and I'm really sorry for your family. My heart goes
• 1:06:05
  out to them. We lost Sonya, but they lost a
• 1:06:09
  son and what he did for Sonya, he has to
• 1:06:13
  pay and they.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 14: Realize that earlier this year, the Sangamon County paid out
• 1:06:21
  ten million dollars in a wrongful death lawsuit to the family,
• 1:06:24
  although the family says they would give all of that
• 1:06:26
  money back to have Sonya with them here today. As
• 1:06:29
  for Grayson, he's expected to be sentenced in January and
• 1:06:32
  could face up to twenty years behind bars.
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 21: Eryl and Jureka, it's impossible for any of us to
• 1:06:39
  really know what Massi's family is going through emotionally psychologically.
• 1:06:44
  What more did they tell you?
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 14: You know, I think there was a shock from that
• 1:06:49
  last SoundBite you heard when you hear the Grayson family,
• 1:06:53
  who obviously doesn't want to see their son in prison,
• 1:06:56
  and then you hear them go over to the Massy
• 1:06:59
  family during this trial to say, I'm sorry we did
• 1:07:02
  not raise him that way. I thought that was pretty remarkable.
• 1:07:06
  And then one of the family friends, the woman that
• 1:07:09
  you heard from in the peace, said that not only
• 1:07:11
  did they apologize to the family in court during this trial,
• 1:07:15
  but they also offered up more seats because each family
• 1:07:19
  has a certain amount of seats they're allowed to have
• 1:07:21
  based on those who were becoming in support of Grayson
• 1:07:24
  or Massey. And we were told that the Grayson family said,
• 1:07:28
  you can have you know, some of our seats because
• 1:07:30
  we're only going to have you know, four or five
• 1:07:31
  people here in support of Sean Grayson, so you know
• 1:07:35
  some of the things that are happening behind the scenes
• 1:07:37
  that you don't always hear about. I thought that was
• 1:07:39
  pretty powerful for them to share that story of humanity,
• 1:07:43
  if you will, in the wake of.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 21: This tragedy under schools, that everybody loses in this as
• 1:07:49
  well and as traumatized. Jerika Duncan, great reporting. Thank you
• 1:07:52
  very much.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Again, there are no winners in this case. You have
• 1:08:06
  a family that lost a daughter, mm hmm, children that
• 1:08:16
  lost the mother, and then you have a family that
• 1:08:26
  lost a son. H Let me process this for just
• 1:08:37
  a moment because again I was watching when a verdict
• 1:08:42
  came down, and I can ease, I can honestly tell
• 1:08:52
  y'all my heart dropped. So as we bring this to
• 1:08:59
  a close, I'm gonna go and share my final thoughts.
• 1:09:05
  As I was saying, I was watching when the verdict
• 1:09:08
  came in and I just knew they were going to
• 1:09:15
  find him guilty of first degree murder. I just knew,
• 1:09:22
  but unfortunately we got a second degree conviction. One my
• 1:09:32
  heart agrees for both families because again, Sonya's gone. Embody,
• 1:09:56
  let me see that. Yeah, they won a ten million
• 1:10:01
  dollar lossuit, but again you heard them say. The family
• 1:10:05
  said we would give all the money back to bring
• 1:10:09
  Sonya back to us. A lot of people you don't understand.
• 1:10:16
  A human life is priceless. You can't put a price
• 1:10:20
  tag on a person's life. And to be slapped in
• 1:10:27
  the face. Again, where's the real justice and all of this?
• 1:10:36
  Because again he was only convicted of one count of
• 1:10:39
  second degree murder. That range is sentencing anywhere from four
• 1:10:43
  to twenty years, So if he's only sentenced to four years,
• 1:10:51
  he would get time served for a year. So in actuality,
• 1:10:54
  he may do two and a half years if that's
• 1:10:58
  the sentence that they go with. But there's no amount
• 1:11:04
  of time that a person serves that can bring back
• 1:11:08
  a person's loved me.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 20: No amount of time, of money, no amount of money.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: No amount of money. Thank you to the Massy family
• 1:11:36
  for acknowledging and holding your son accountable for his actions.
• 1:11:42
  We appreciate that. Thank you for giving up seats to
• 1:11:47
  allow more members of the Massy family to be able
• 1:11:50
  to attend the trial. But I want to say to
• 1:11:57
  the Massy family, we love you, we understand, and we
• 1:12:09
  will continue to walk with you on your journey and
• 1:12:16
  your recovery of this verdict. We love you over here
• 1:12:22
  at Black Girl Interrupted Podcast. So in January, I will
• 1:12:32
  we will come back and revisit this once uh Sean
• 1:12:37
  Grayson is sentenced, and I want your thoughts on that.
• 1:12:41
  I want your thoughts on that. I got it one episode,
• 1:12:47
  y'all without crying, thank you for all the God Jesus,
• 1:12:49
  because I think I mentally prepared myself for this episode.
• 1:12:53
  I think I got all the I think I got
• 1:12:55
  all the jitters and the and the bugs and crying
• 1:12:57
  out prying to me doing this episode. But I do
• 1:13:01
  want to say thank y'all for coming back with me
• 1:13:04
  two Black Girls Interrupted Podcast. Thank y'all again for all
• 1:13:08
  the love and support that y'all have shown me these
• 1:13:12
  last five over the last five years that I've been podcasting,
• 1:13:17
  I appreciate y'all. Y'all are awesome. Y'all are phenomenal, and Baby,
• 1:13:21
  y'all rock. So Black Girl Interrupted is back in full swing. Baby,
• 1:13:27
  we are back to our regularly scheduled program so on Mondays,
• 1:13:34
  I will continue to do my mental Mondays, but I
• 1:13:37
  will be streaming on I will be on TikTok. So
• 1:13:40
  if you want to come over to TikTok to catch
• 1:13:43
  my mental mondays, it's greatly appreciated. It is under black
• 1:13:47
  Girl Interrupted, black Girl Interrupted, so it is under that
• 1:13:52
  name on TikTok. I will be going live seven pm
• 1:13:56
  Central Time, APM Eastern time. We will be doing mental Mondays.
• 1:14:02
  I have some amazing things that I'm working on to
• 1:14:06
  round out the end of twenty twenty five. As we
• 1:14:09
  walk into twenty twenty six, I do want to, Oh,
• 1:14:17
  thank you, cousin. I love you too, baby, thank you,
• 1:14:20
  thank you, thank you. I love you so much. Thank
• 1:14:22
  you for coming and hanging out with your girl tonight.
• 1:14:27
  But I do want to again, I am doing my
• 1:14:32
  mental mondays. I am back doing that. It's imperative. I
• 1:14:36
  will still do my wellness Wednesdays over here, but I
• 1:14:39
  will do those once a month. So I'll pick a
• 1:14:43
  Wednesday out of the month, maybe the middle of the month.
• 1:14:45
  We'll do our wellness Wednesdays where I check in with y'all,
• 1:14:48
  you know, see how y'all are doing, and you know,
• 1:14:50
  just just have our time over here. Y'all know, how
• 1:14:53
  we get down. I will be streaming live on Tuesdays
• 1:14:57
  and Wednesdays to Facebook and YouTube like we've normally been
• 1:15:01
  doing what Black Girl Interrupt the podcast. So next week,
• 1:15:05
  next Tuesday, I do want to discuss Marshawn Neeland. That
• 1:15:15
  is setting me up for our Wednesday episode, which is
• 1:15:20
  National Men's Day, and it will be all things men,
• 1:15:24
  about your mental health, about your your your physical health,
• 1:15:27
  your emotional health. It will be all things men. So
• 1:15:33
  again Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Black Girl Interrupted will be streaming
• 1:15:36
  seven pm Central Time a pm Eastern time. Again. I
• 1:15:40
  will be streaming live again Tuesdays and Wednesdays to Facebook
• 1:15:44
  as well as YouTube. On Mondays, I will be doing
• 1:15:47
  my mental Mondays, but I will be on TikTok still
• 1:15:51
  same time, seven pm Eastern times. So we're gonna round
• 1:15:55
  out the year strong. We're gonna finish it strong again.
• 1:15:59
  I do have a couple of guests that I will
• 1:16:01
  be collabed that will be on the show in December.
• 1:16:05
  So it's gonna be great, it's gonna be phenomenal. I'm
• 1:16:07
  so excited.
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 12: Up.
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: There's my sister. She just jumped in hesus. Hey, Charlie,
• 1:16:16
  that's my big sess. Y'all shout out to my big
• 1:16:18
  sis man. I love her so much. When I say this,
• 1:16:23
  this woman has held me down in the background. Baby,
• 1:16:26
  she is prayed with me. She has prayed for me,
• 1:16:29
  she has prayed over me. She has encouraged me. She
• 1:16:32
  has always told me to reach for the stars. So
• 1:16:36
  I applaud her for just loving on me out loud
• 1:16:42
  and on purpose. So yes again, I will be back.
• 1:16:49
  We are in full swing, y'all. We are in full swing.
• 1:16:52
  Black Girl Interrupted is back. I do want to let
• 1:16:56
  y'all know I am attending a brunch on Sunday for
• 1:16:59
  y'all that don't know. I have social anxiety, real bad.
• 1:17:03
  I don't know where it came from. I don't know.
• 1:17:05
  Maybe COVID, I don't know. But y'all wish me luck
• 1:17:11
  for being able to be amongst some very pivotal people
• 1:17:15
  to really go and represent my brand, to represent Black
• 1:17:19
  Girl Interrupted. So y'all pray for your girl. I'm very again.
• 1:17:25
  I'm very excited about it. I can't wait. I can't
• 1:17:27
  wait to post pictures. I can't wait to come back
• 1:17:31
  and let y'all know how things went. To give y'all
• 1:17:36
  an update. For those that don't know, my husband on
• 1:17:40
  September twenty fifth, was diagnosed with stage two prostate cancer.
• 1:17:47
  We did the scans. Everything is good. It is just
• 1:17:51
  still encapsulated in the pro states. So it has not
• 1:17:54
  spread to any other part of my husband's body. So
• 1:17:57
  praise God for that. I thank God so much for that.
• 1:18:02
  Thank you. Cousin, She's like, yes, okay, so yes, So
• 1:18:07
  the cancer has not spread to any other part of
• 1:18:09
  his body. It is just still encapsulated in the prostate.
• 1:18:14
  He was given two options. He was given the option
• 1:18:16
  to either do the surgery to actually go in and
• 1:18:20
  remove the entire prostate, or to do the radiation. He
• 1:18:26
  has gone with the least invasives, so he will do
• 1:18:28
  the radiation. So on Tuesday he will go back in
• 1:18:32
  for a outpatient procedure where they will insert the radiation
• 1:18:38
  markers around the tumors. He has six. There are six
• 1:18:42
  tumors in the prostate, so they will go in and
• 1:18:45
  put the markers around the prostate. He'll go back on
• 1:18:50
  the nineteenth for the scans just to ensure the markers
• 1:18:53
  are in place and where they should be, and then
• 1:18:57
  within four to five weeks after the scans, he will
• 1:19:01
  start his radiation treatments. The treatments will last I believe
• 1:19:04
  they said five weeks, So y'all pray, yes, sus my
• 1:19:11
  my husband has stage shoe prize date cancer. But we
• 1:19:14
  are hopeful. We are prayer for God. God makes he
• 1:19:18
  works in mysterious ways. God is a healer. So I
• 1:19:23
  am very very very very very optimistic on my husband's recovery.
• 1:19:32
  He's gonna be fine. We are claiming a clean bill
• 1:19:35
  of health after the first of the well in February,
• 1:19:40
  because again he will do the radiation treatments for five weeks.
• 1:19:44
  We're looking to start those. They said anywhere for the
• 1:19:47
  five weeks after the scans. And again he does the
• 1:19:50
  scans on the nineteenth, So next Tuesday he will go
• 1:19:53
  in for the rape for the insertion of the radiation
• 1:19:56
  radiation markers. Again it's he has six tumors and they
• 1:20:00
  will put the markers around the tumors so that way
• 1:20:03
  when he starts the radiation, it will just go strictly
• 1:20:06
  to where the markers are, which will target the tumors.
• 1:20:10
  He will again do radiation for five weeks so that
• 1:20:16
  he should if he starts the week of Christmas, we
• 1:20:21
  should be rounding out the treatments the end of January.
• 1:20:25
  So we're praying. Please keep those prayers coming from my
• 1:20:28
  mouth to God's ears. Prayer works, my cousin says, we're
• 1:20:33
  just praying for him absolutely, so again, from my mouth
• 1:20:36
  to God's ears. We're declaring a clean bill of health.
• 1:20:40
  We are declaring that cancer will no longer reside in
• 1:20:43
  my husband's body. So I wanted to give y'all an
• 1:20:47
  update on that, but I also wanted to pour into
• 1:20:51
  y'all for just for just a few more moments. I
• 1:20:54
  love y'all. I want to say to y'all, thank you
• 1:21:00
  for keeping me grounded. Thank y'all for keeping me in
• 1:21:04
  my right state of mind. As I stated earlier, this
• 1:21:09
  is the most stable that I've been in a long
• 1:21:12
  time mentally, and I owe it not just to God,
• 1:21:15
  but to y'all. The prayers, the messages, the phone calls.
• 1:21:22
  I appreciate y'all. Y'all don't know what that means to me.
• 1:21:28
  That means the most to me than anything in the world,
• 1:21:32
  because I didn't know how much people love me, you know.
• 1:21:36
  Shout out to my sisters, Shout out to my brother,
• 1:21:39
  shout out to my cousins. Shout out to my friends,
• 1:21:42
  that shout out to everyone that has been a carmonderie
• 1:21:45
  for me and my husband. I appreciate y'all enveloping us
• 1:21:49
  with a cocoon of love because man, then private breakdowns
• 1:21:55
  are rough because you trying to stay strong for the
• 1:21:58
  person that's enduring. You know. Soon, Thank y'all. I love you,
• 1:22:04
  love love, love love, y'all. Thank y'all for coming supporting.
• 1:22:08
  Black Girl interrupted. Thank y'all most importantly for supporting me.
• 1:22:12
  Thank y'all for encouraging me. Thank y'all for empowering me.
• 1:22:15
  Most important, thank y'all for uplifting me and holding me
• 1:22:18
  close to y'all and not letting me go, because man,
• 1:22:21
  it was rough. It was rough. It was rough.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 10: It was rough.
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: So again, on that note, again, black Girl interrupted, its back.
• 1:22:31
  We're here. I'm stuck. My sister told me I gotta
• 1:22:34
  stay in this. She told me you gotta stay in
• 1:22:36
  the fight. Baby. So here I am and I'm ready.
• 1:22:40
  I'm swinging. I just kicked in the door today. But again,
• 1:22:43
  y'all catch me on TikTok on mondays for mental mondays.
• 1:22:48
  I want to know how you're feeling. I want to
• 1:22:50
  know what's going on. One of the conversations we're gonna
• 1:22:53
  have on Monday is church and the mental health m
• 1:22:58
  It's might get a little thick in that conversation. Cus
• 1:23:03
  oh bye b bye, bye bye babe. But here we y'all.
• 1:23:08
  But on that note, I'm gonna go ahead and bring
• 1:23:10
  this to a close. I love y'all. Here's a trailer
• 1:23:14
  for my mental mondays. I love y'all. I will see
• 1:23:17
  y'all on Monday. I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend.
• 1:23:21
  I hope everyone continues to stay safe, stay warm, man,
• 1:23:27
  and just God bless y'all. I love y'all, and I'll
• 1:23:30
  see y'all on Monday. I love Edmond says I needed
• 1:23:50
  this so bad. Thank you for You're welcome.