KENT COUNTY, Mich. – A judge has declared a mistrial in the case against Christopher Schurr, the former Grand Rapids police officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya, after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
Deliberations began at around 12:30 p.m. Monday, May 5, after both the prosecution and defense presented their final arguments.
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Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, was shot and killed by a Grand Rapids Police Officer during a traffic stop in April 2022.
The former officer, Christopher Schurr, was charged with second-degree Murder in Lyoya’s death.
Over the course of six days, 23 witnesses testified, including the officer himself.
The judge told prosecutors and defendants Thursday morning that the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Therefore, the judge declared a mistrial.
What is a mistrial?
A mistrial happens when a jury is unable to reach a verdict, and there must be a new trial with a new jury.
A mistrial can also happen if there’s improper admission of prejudiced evidence, misconduct by anyone involved in the trial, jury errors, and other grounds. In this case, the jury came back without a verdict after days of deliberations.
This does not mean the case goes away.
Prosecutors can retry the case with a new jury, dismiss the charges or look for a plea deal.
Prosecutor response
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said he, as well as the Lyoya family, is disappointed with the outcome of the trial.
Becker spoke with the jury after the trial, thought they were a fair jury, and took the case seriously while deliberating.
He told media outlets he knows how the jury was divided but declined to share with the public.
“This was not an easy case,” he said.
Once a judge declares a mistrial, the prosecution has the option to retry the case with a new jury, drop the charges or offer a plea deal.
Becker said on Thursday that he had not made a decision on what to do next on the case.
Defense response
The lawyer who defended Schurr, Matt Borgula, believed the jury did their job and deliberated well, despite not coming to an agreement early on.
“He’s been living with this for three years,” said Borgula regarding Schurr’s reaction to the mistrial. “He, obviously, wanted some resolution.”
He mentioned Schurr appreciated the jury but wanted it to be done.
“He’ll reflect on it, as we all will.”
Borgula said he doesn’t believe this case should be retried. “I don’t think he should have been charged in the first place.”
The defense claimed the judge rolled her eyes and made facial expressions throughout the trial, but didn’t bring it up during the trial.
“A man died, and that is a very serious thing. It’s hard to say that this is a victory,” Burgola said.
The defense attorney was asked if the jury considered how Schurr shot Lyoya.
“Terrible [the shot] was in the back of the head, but it’s legally irrelevant,” said Borgula. He said he believed the jury didn’t consider that during deliberations.
Patrick Lyoya’s family response
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.
“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.
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