GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Patrick Lyoya’s family is urging the prosecutor to refile charges after the jury came back deadlocked and a mistrial was declared.
“We’ll keep fighting until we get justice,” Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, said.
The hung jury had deliberated for more than 20 hours in the trial of former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr.
Schurr was charged with second-degree murder in the 2022 shooting of Lyoya.
“I want to say that it hurt my family,” Peter Lyoya said following he mistrial. “We are bleeding. We are in pain.”
The Lyoya family sat in the courtroom for six days of testimony, including when Schurr took the stand to testify in his own defense.
“When he went to testify, my heart was bleeding,” Lyoya’s mother, Dorcas Lyoya, said. “The first thing I thought (Schurr) would say coming from his mouth was going to say I’m sorry to the family, to apologize for what he did wrong, but he didn’t.”
The Lyoya family felt Schurr was unapologetic on the stand.
“It was like he had no remorse, he had no guilt, like he didn’t care that he took the life of a human being,” Dorcas Lyoya said.
Briefly throughout his hours-long testimony, Schurr appeared to hold back tears.
Read: Patrick Lyoya’s family speaks following judge declaring mistrial in case against ex-officer
Christopher Schurr’s reaction to mistrial
After the mistrial was declared, Schurr’s attorney, Matthew Borgula, talked about his reaction to the hung jury.
“Christopher Schurr is happy that the jury didn’t determine that he is criminally responsible for that death, but it’s hard to say that we feel like this was a victory,” Borgula said.
Borgula gave his thoughts on whether charges should be refiled.
“I do not think this case just be retried,” he said. “I don’t think it should have been charged in the first place.”
Although the prosecutor did not comment on the split of the jury, Borgula said most jurors felt Schurr was not guilty.
“It was overwhelmingly in favor of acquittal and there were holdouts on the other side,” Borgula said.
What will the Prosecutor decide?
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said he’ll soon decide whether this case will be retried.
“It’s a process,” Becker said. “I’m not going to rush into it and we will go from there.”
Becker credited the jury for their diligence.
“I’ve never had a jury take that many notes and ask the amount of questions, and quite frankly, really good questions,” Becker said.
Becker and the defense attorneys had a chance to talk with the jurors after the mistrial was declared.
Read: Prosecutor, defense attorney speak out following mistrial of ex-officer who shot Patrick Lyoya
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