GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The trial for the former Grand Rapids police officer charged with second-degree murder in the 2022 death of Patrick Lyoya begins Monday.
A jury will begin to hear testimony at 9 a.m. on Monday, April 28, 2025, in the trial of Christopher Schurr, who fatally shot the 26-year-old refugee from Congo during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022.
You can watch the trial live in the live stream at the top of this article.
The 14 Kent County jurors, including two alternates, were selected last week.
The jury consists of four men and 10 women. Jurors include 10 white people, three Hispanic people and one woman who identifies as biracial. Two of those jurors are alternates.
Attorney Ven Johnson has been by the family’s side since the shooting, and is representing them in their civil lawsuit against the city.
He expects Schurr to take the stand in his defense during the trial.
“Schurr is going to testify,” Johnson said. “He has to. Right? Because only he can talk about his state of mind when he pulled that trigger. While he was on top of Patrick, while Patrick was on the ground and while Schurr had the gun to the back of Patrick’s head.”
In cell phone and body camera video, Schurr and Lyoya are seen struggling for several minutes. Schurr fired the fatal shot while Lyoya was on the ground, demanding that he “let go” of the officer’s Taser.
Johnson said to expect a lot of technical testimony about the taser during the trial.
The prosecution and defense are expected to make arguments about whether the taser was a deadly weapon, if it was operable, and if Lyoya had possession of it.
“Even if Schurr is right that Patrick had the taser, it was meaningless,” Johnson said. “It would have done nothing to Schurr.”
In a preliminary hearing, Schurr’s attorneys have argued he acted in self-defense.
Local 4 reached out to Schurr’s attorneys for comment ahead of the trial, but did not hear back.
