Guilty Verdict in Murder Trial

District Attorney's Office Releases Prosecution Result from 2016 Downtown Reno Shooting Case

The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office is releasing the result of a recent murder trial that began Monday.  The case involved the shooting death of a 43 year old Sun Valley man after a confrontation at a downtown Reno casino.  The victim was shot once in the chest by the defendant, who now faces up to Life plus 25 years in prison.  Sentencing will take place on June 21, 2017 at 11 a.m. in Department 9.

Kiley Scott Grayson, 40, from Reno was found guilty yesterday evening on one count of Second Degree Murder with the Use of a Deadly Weapon and one count of Carrying a Concealed Weapon. The murder charge carries a potential penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole after a minimum of 10 years has been served.  The deadly weapon enhancement must run consecutive to the murder term and carries a potential sentence of up to 20 additional years in prison. The concealed weapon charge has the potential of adding an additional 5 years to the sentence.

The case against Grayson began on February 28, 2016 when the Reno Police Department (RPD) was called to a report of a shooting inside Siri’s Casino in downtown Reno.  When officers arrived, they located the victim and immediately began providing medical assistance. The victim was later identified as James Antuane Deshawn Grigsby, a 43 year old Sun Valley man.  Grigsby was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead shortly after arrival.  Grayson was also contacted by RPD officers when they arrived and he surrendered to them immediately.  RPD Robbery Homicide Detectives began an investigation and determined that Grayson and Grigsby were involved in a verbal argument just prior to the shooting.  Based on witness interviews and surveillance footage, detectives were able to determine that Grayson had pulled a handgun from inside his jacket during the argument, racked the slide and pointed it at Grigsby, who puts his hand up before being shot once in the chest.  Grayson was arrested and this office subsequently filed charges against him.

At trial, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kelly Kossow argued against the defendant’s claim that he shot the victim in self-defense by stating that the killing was a direct result of revenge and injury to the defendant’s pride. Immediately preceding the killing the victim had berated the Defendant and poked him in the head with a cane in front of the defendant’s girlfriend, causing the defendant to over react and shoot the victim.  In closing statements, Kossow reminded the jury that the victim had dropped the cane and placed his hands in the air as evidenced on the video depicting the incident.  Even though the victim presented no lethal threat, the defendant shot and killed him.