A judge declared a mistrial this week after a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of a former Michigan cop who was charged with murder for the shooting death of a Black man in 2022.
Former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr, 34, was being tried for second-degree murder after fatally shooting 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, in the back of the head in April 2022.
Cellphone video and bodycam footage showed Schurr struggling with Lyoya on the lawn of a home during a traffic stop. Authorities said Lyoya managed to grab hold of Schurr’s Taser. In the end, Schurr climbed on top of Lyoya, who was face-down on the ground, and fired one fatal shot to the back of the 26-year-old’s head.
Schurr’s attorneys staked their case on a self-defense claim, arguing that Lyoya had control of Schurr’s Taser during the struggle. Prosecutors argued that Schurr’s lethal actions amounted to excessive force.
Jurors heard testimony from policing experts, eyewitnesses, investigators, and Schurr himself. Use-of-force experts whom defense attorneys called to the stand argued that Schurr was well within his rights to use deadly force after Lyoya had control of his Taser. Policing experts called by the prosecution argued that Schurr acted improperly during the encounter.
After prosecutors rested their case, Schurr’s defense team filed a motion for a mistrial, arguing that their subject matter experts relied on outdated policies about tactical procedures in their testimonies.
The judge overseeing the case rejected the motion, stating that she does “not believe that the experts’ testimony rises to the level of requiring a mistrial.”
But the court proceedings ended in a mistrial anyway on May 8 when the jury announced it could not reach a unanimous verdict after roughly 20 hours of deliberation.
During a virtual news conference, Lyoya’s family said they were “extremely disappointed” by the trial result and said they were “reborn of the wound” of Lyoya’s death.
“The image of my son being killed, it came back again,” Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, said in his native language, via a family translator, according to WOOD. “We were fighting and we thought we were getting to the close of this case and were going to get the justice. I want to say that (the hung jury) hurt my family, my wife. We are bleeding, we are in pain.”
Lyoya’s mother said that she was waiting for Schurr to apologize to her family when he was testifying, but she felt like he showed no remorse, saying, “It seemed like he only killed an animal. That’s how he presented himself,” Dorcas Lyoya said through a translator, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“I didn’t give up on my son, and we’re not going to be tired until we find justice for our son,” she added.
Prosecutor Chris Becker said he spoke to some of the jury members, who said their stalemate was the result of indecision about the dangers the Taser posed during the struggle and the totality of the circumstances compared to the moment Lyoya was shot. Ultimately, they could not determine whether Lyoya’s death was murder.
“What happened today is not what anybody expected or wanted,” Becker told reporters in the courthouse. “We were hoping to get a conclusion. We thought we’d put a good case forward. Obviously, the jury thought differently. They were hung.”
Becker added that he has not yet decided to retry the case in front of a new jury, stating, “It’s a process and I’m not going to rush into it.”
Schurr’s lead defense attorney, Michael Borgula, said Schurr is grateful he wasn’t found guilty, but is disappointed by the lack of resolution. Borgula also opposed any efforts to try the case again.
“This is not ‘winners and losers’ in this case. Christopher Schurr never wanted to take a life,” Borgula said. “I guarantee you he is the nicest man, and this is the most difficult thing he’s ever had to deal with, that decision in that split second. We cannot declare victory, because there really is no winning here. A man died, and that is a very serious thing.”
The mistrial incited large demonstrations in downtown Grand Rapids, where protestors called on Becker to move for a retrial after gathering outside the courthouse.
Becker said a decision to retry the case should come down in a matter of weeks.
“I’m not going to let this drag out,” he said. “I’m going to be considerate of the community. I think this is a big, big decision, I’m not going to rush through it … but it’s not going to be June. I don’t have a specific timeline, but I hope to know relatively soon.”
