Mistrial declared in trial of ex-Michigan police officer who killed Congolese immigrant
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Ex-Grand Rapids police officer goes on trial for murder
Christopher Schurr is being tried for murder in the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, who was involved in a traffic stop that turned fatal in 2022.
Fox - 2 Detroit
A jury deliberated for around 20 hours before a Kent County judge declared a mistrial.
Both the prosecutor and lead defense attorney said the outcome is disappointing.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said he will take time before making a decision on trying the case again.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A judge declared a mistrial on May 8 after a west Michigan jury said it could not reach a verdict in the murder trial of a former police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in 2022.
Christopher Schurr, 34, was charged with one count of second-degree murder stemming from the April 2022 shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant. Schurr shot Lyoya in the back of the head after tackling him when Lyoya tried to flee a traffic stop in southeast Grand Rapids.
Schurr's attorneys had argued the former officer was acting in self defense, after Lyoya attempted to grab Schurr's Taser during the physical struggle. Prosecutors had argued Schurr used excessive force.
The mistrial was declared on the fourth day of deliberations. The jury had deliberated for about 20 hours before informing 17th Circuit Judge Christina Mims it could not reach a verdict.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, who first charged Schurr in June 2022, said after the mistrial declaration he had not made an immediate decision on retrying the case. He told reporters that he spoke to jurors and considered their input on the case, although he did not divulge what that input was.
"This was not an easy case," Becker said. "This was not a simple case."
A decision on whether to try the case again would likely come in a matter of weeks, he said. Becker added that the Lyoya family is "extremely disappointed" by the mistrial.
'Still healing': Memphis mayor, police chief call for unity after Tyre Nichols verdict
Lyoya family, attorneys react to mistrial declaration
Peter Lyoya – Patrick Lyoya's father – thanked the prosecution and activists he said have stood by his family.
'We're not going to be tired until when we get the justice for Patrick,' he said via the family's translator Israel Siku, during a news conference following the hearing.
Patrick Lyoya's mother, Dorcas Lyoya, said s she expected the former officer to apologize to the Lyoya family. Instead, she said it seemed like Schurr felt no remorse.
'It seemed like he only killed an animal. That's how he presented himself,' Dorcas Lyoya said in translated remarks.
Matt Borgula, Schurr's lead defense attorney, said Schurr is disappointed at the lack of resolution, but grateful he was not convicted.
"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."
Borgula said jurors were leaning toward acquittal, but could not provide an exact split among the 12-person jury.
Ven Johnson – of the family's attorneys in a separate civil case brought against Schurr over Lyoya's death – encouraged Becker to seek a retrial of the criminal case. Johnson said Becker told the Lyoya family that he will weigh next steps and will inform the family of his decision before making it public.
During the trial, demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse in downtown Grand Rapids to await a verdict. Some stood in support of Schurr, waving 'thin blue line' flags that have emerged as a support symbol for law enforcement. Others chanted 'Justice for Patrick,' with one demonstrator waving a flag with the letters 'BLM,' an apparent reference to the Black Lives Matter movement.
What happened to Patrick Lyoya?
On April 4, 2022, Lyoya was killed in a Grand Rapids neighborhood during a routine traffic stop after he struggled with an officer over a stun gun.
Videos of the incident, released by the Grand Rapids Police Department, showed Lyoya getting pulled over by the officer who said he ran the car's license plate and that it did not match the vehicle.
The footage shows Lyoya stepping out of the car and seemingly confused as the officer asks for a driver's license and orders him to get back inside the vehicle. Lyoya then attempts to walk away as the officer attempts to handcuff him.
Following a short foot chase, the two men ended on the lawn of a home where Lyoya attempted to block the officer from using his Taser, footage showed. The officer can be heard telling Lyoya to "stop" and to "let go of the Taser."
The officer then drew his gun while on top of Lyoya and fired one shot in the back of his head, according to the footage.
The officer was later identified as Schurr, who was fired shortly after the Kent County Prosecutor's Office charged him with second-degree murder in June 2022.
A forensic pathologist who performed an independent autopsy on Lyoya concluded that he was shot once by a gun that was held to the back of his head.
Lyoya's death sparked protests in Michigan and led to increased calls for police accountability. Following the shooting, the Grand Rapids Police Department implemented new policies including de-escalation training and created a policy dedicated to the 'sanctity of life.'
Tyre Nichols case: Ex-police officers found not guilty of murder in Tyre Nichols beating death
Defense attorney says evidence shown during trial was 'irrelevant'
Throughout the trial, the jury was able to see footage of the shooting played numerous times and in different angles — from the moment Schurr exited his patrol car to the moments after he shot Lyoya. Jurors also heard from a series of witnesses, the bulk of whom were qualified as policing experts, but also from eyewitnesses, investigators, police officers who responded to the scene of the shooting and Schurr himself.
Much of the testimony focused on the Taser, which defense lawyers argued Lyoya had gained possession of from Schurr. Once Schurr believed Lyoya had control of the Taser, he was within his rights to use deadly force and shoot Lyoya, policing experts called by the defense testified.
The prosecution focused large parts of its case around Schurr's training with the Grand Rapids Police Department, where he had joined as a recruit in 2015. Policing expert witnesses called by the prosecution said Schurr acted improperly by chasing Lyoya on foot after he tried to flee the traffic stop.
Borgula said the case was bogged down by too much information.
"I think there was a lot of evidence at this trial that was irrelevant, and that shouldn't have come in," Borgula said following the mistrial declaration.
Contributing: Clara Hendrickson, Detroit Free Press; Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
4 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Anjanette Young ordinance slated for vote — without no-knock warrant ban
A years-in-the-making ordinance overhauling the Chicago Police Department's search warrant policy could at last get over the finish line in September, advocates hope, but without the ban on no-knock warrants Mayor Brandon Johnson promised in his 2023 campaign. Instead the Anjanette Young ordinance, named after the Black social worker who police handcuffed and left naked in her home while serving a warrant at the wrong address, will require cops to wait 30 seconds before entry. It's a compromise accepted by both Young and her main council ally, Ald. Maria Hadden, one that reflects the shift in the political climate since demand for police accountability reached a fever pitch during the Black Lives Matter movement that exploded in 2020. The new version grants Hadden, Young and her supporters the ability to claim a win that they say will still protect Chicagoans. But the struggle thus far to build consensus behind the tougher ordinance, despite the citywide furor over police mistreatment of Young, reflects the difficulty activists faced in turning energy around the George Floyd protests into legislation. While Young and Hadden said they still support a no-knock ban in the future, and Johnson campaigned on such a law, the mayor has avoided giving his current stance on the issue. 'It's an ongoing conversation,' the mayor told reporters this week about whether a no-knock ban remains on his agenda. 'These reforms and transformations certainly don't come easily, but it doesn't stop us, prevent us or curtail us, quite frankly, from pursuing justice.' The pivot comes after five years of Young and Hadden focusing on no-knock warrants, which allow officers to forcibly enter homes without announcing themselves, as the chief target of the legislation. Their calls to abolish those search warrants joined the nationwide movement triggered by the 2020 police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed in Louisville, Kentucky, during a flawed drug investigation. But while outlawing no-knock warrants may make for a more impressive win, Young said the sharp drop in those types of raids occurring over the years allowed her to feel comfortable with taking the ban out for now. 'Now ultimately, would I love to see no-knock warrants completely banned in the city, the state and across the country? Absolutely,' Young said. 'But I feel hopeful in the sense that if this ordinance passed, we have a tangible piece of legislation that allows for accountability.' To be sure, the wrongful 2019 police raid on Young's home was not the result of a no-knock warrant. Rather, police conducted a knock-and-announce raid at the wrong address, which the mayor argued in July should be the focus of the ordinance instead because those comprise the majority of Chicago police search warrants. Johnson did not say which party suggested taking the no-knock ban out. But according to Hadden, police Superintendent Larry Snelling's team did so and the mayor's office did not object to the change. After looking at Chicago police data showing no-knock warrants have been 'barely used,' Hadden said she and Young agreed it was not worth jeopardizing the success of an ordinance that had been subject to years of false starts and stops. 'We want to get something passed that's actually addressing the problematic behavior, and if that means some compromises, we're willing to do it,' Hadden said. 'We can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.' CPD officers last year executed 210 residential search warrants — an 84% decrease from 2019, the year of the Young raid, when officers used residential search warrants nearly 1,400 times, according to figures provided by the Police Department. Data on how many were no-knock warrants was not publicly available. Over the last six years, internal Chicago police directives as well as the federal consent decree on the department have also been expanded to add new provisions surrounding search warrant execution. Even the weaker version could put Johnson at odds with Snelling, whose office has not endorsed the 30-second rule that the mayor has pitched as a more precise tool to prevent botched police raids. That could stymie buy-in from pro-law enforcement aldermen who might be reluctant to buck police leadership — and set the stage for an awkward split between the mayor and his top cop. Chicago police declined to comment on the pending legislation. Johnson confirmed at an unrelated news conference, however, that Snelling was hesitant to endorse the latest version. 'There are some concerns that the superintendent has raised. We're going to continue to work through this process,' Johnson said. 'The most important thing though that I know that the superintendent is committed to — this is my commitment — is to work to make sure that that trauma that Ms. Anjanette Young experienced, that that doesn't happen again. And I commend Anjanette Young for her steadfastness and commitment to ensuring that this ordinance not only sees the life of day, that it actually becomes law.' The ordinance is currently in the council Police and Fire Committee after Hadden introduced it last month. If it passes there, it could get an up-or-down vote in the full council as soon as September. Ald. Chris Taliaferro, the mayor's handpicked chair of the committee, said he hasn't made up his mind on the measure yet, but 'even a time limit placed on entry needs to be discussed … to see what is not only best for our residents, but what's best for the safety of our police officers as well.' The official language requires cops 'knock and announce the officer's presence at a volume loud enough for the officer to reasonably believe the occupants inside can hear, allow at least 30 seconds before entry, and delay entry if the officer has reason to believe that someone is approaching the dwelling's entrance with the intent of voluntarily allowing the officer to enter.' There is an exception during 'an exigent circumstance,' such as imminent danger of death or grave injury 'provided that the imminent danger is not created by law enforcement service and executing the residential search warrant.' Besides that provision, the latest version also requires the Police Department to establish a policy addressing gun-pointing and any raids at homes with children 16 and younger as well as the elderly and disabled. On Feb. 21, 2019, police botched the execution of a warrant and went to the wrong home, restraining Young instead of an unrelated male suspect while she was getting ready for bed. Officers did not allow her to put on clothes and handcuffed her during their search. The raid at Young's home was captured on officers' body cameras and quickly went viral after the video was publicly released, sparking one of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot's biggest police accountability scandals of her term. Since then, Young has crusaded against the Police Department's search warrant process and was awarded a $2.9 million settlement in December 2021. In 2022, Hadden attempted to push the Anjanette Young ordinance forward in a City Council committee but failed in a 10-4 vote. That was after a previous version presented to the body in 2021 also never garnered a floor vote as Lightfoot argued such reforms should be reflected within Police Department directives, not codified in law. The earlier legislation would have banned no-knock warrants except in the case of 'exigent circumstances.' One critic of Johnson's decision to back off a no-knock warrant ban in the new version came from an unlikely corner of the City Council. Ald. Raymond Lopez, a member of City Council's more conservative bloc, called for a six-month moratorium on no-knock warrants in 2020. He said last week, 'If someone like me who is unashamed of my support for law enforcement can propose significant and sweeping changes to our warrant execution, why can't a progressive mayor?' Meanwhile, Illinois Democrats are still working through their own proposal for a statewide ban. This past session in the General Assembly, Young testified before state lawmakers on legislation sponsored by state Rep. Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat, to prohibit most no-knock search warrants. It passed committee before lawmakers adjourned, and Buckner said he intends to move it along either in the fall veto session or next year. The former mayoral candidate noted that it had bipartisan support and also the backing of the Illinois State Rifle Association. 'If Democrats in the city of Chicago can't figure out how to get this done, but you have Republicans from downstate and from rural districts who understand the need and the necessity, it's a little curious,' Buckner said. 'But I believe that we'll find a way to get there, both in the city and in the state.' Young said she wasn't involved much in politics before the botched raid in 2019. Now, she can rattle off the City Council legislative process, the ins and outs of court cases on other wrongful police raids and the latest negotiations with the consent decree monitor. She said she isn't fazed by the latest hurdle in her long-winding road to get to what she hopes is the final stage of her namesake ordinance, either. 'Things start to fade when no one is paying attention, and so I refuse to let the city of Chicago or the state of Illinois not pay attention to me and what happened to me,' Young said.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Trump is a bully. He's using the National Guard to conquer DC as a test run.
The District of Columbia should be allowed statehood, not forced to endure deployment of the National Guard to stop an imagined crime wave. President Donald Trump's activation of the National Guard in Washington, DC, has less to do with an imagined 'out of control' crime wave and more to do with conquest. It is more misguided bullying by the president. To facilitate this racialized farce, he dehumanized the capital district's citizens by labeling them 'bloodthirsty criminals' and 'roving mobs of wild youth.' Let there be no mistake: This rhetoric portends violence against Black, Brown and poor citizens and complete disdain for the unhoused. This action and whatever else might follow is deeply personal to the 700,000 people who call the District of Columbia home and who are tired of the meddling from the administration and Capitol Hill politicians who treat our city like a play toy, likely because of our history as a majority Black jurisdiction. Home to a federal government that offers well-paying positions, Washington has attracted Black professionals and blue-collar workers, creating one of the largest Black middle-class populations in the country. We've innovated with affordable housing, invested flush tax revenue in education and implemented a slew of smart labor and justice policies. There's a real city beyond what the tourists know Many Americans don't know this story. They think Washington starts and ends with memorials, museums and monuments. The residential and commercial city is often invisible as a thriving metropolis in its own right, with a deep history and a vibrant culture. Share your opinion: In the wake of Trump's federal DC takeover, are you worried about crime? Tell us. | Opinion Forum Not only have we outshined many of our peer cities, but states, too. DC has a population comparable to Vermont, Alaska and North Dakota, but a budget larger than Arizona's. Residents pay the equivalent of state taxes. DC balances its budget every year, manages a highly functioning mass transit system and employs thousands in jobs that DC residents do with great pride. Still, the way congressional politicians treat us would have our red state friends up in arms if it were done to them. This summer, as the result of a so-called error, Congress withheld more than $1 billion from our approved budget, and that money remains out of our reach − instead of providing the services that our citizens voted and paid for. Opinion: Trump ushers in new DC tourist event − 'A Live Re-creation of Authoritarianism!' The Republican budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes all kinds of culture war initiatives in an attempt to impose conservative values on the more sensible and moderate residents of DC. We're tired of being the punching bag for politicians who wouldn't last a week living under the policies they impose on us. It's as dishonest as it is insulting. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. So much of what this administration and Congress do is informed by their stated orthodoxy around local control and 'rights.' That somehow doesn't apply to us. DC needs statehood, not a federal takeover Fortunately, the president and Congress can't truly 'take over' Washington without ending home rule, which would be difficult to do with the Senate filibuster blocking them. But the president can fearmonger through state-sanctioned violence. And he can use Washington as the test run for the federal takeover of Black and Brown cities daring to oppose this administration's death-dealing politics. We will not accept death. Washington, DC, has proved our right to self-governance and, indeed, statehood. Instead of forcing us to manage a manufactured crisis, elected officials who believe in democracy in earnest should let DC leaders spend our energy on building a more successful and safe city that must become the 51st state. William H. Lamar IV is the pastor at the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Sonya Massey shooting prompts Illinois law requiring disclosure of police recruits' backgrounds
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois law now requires that prospective police officers approve the release of personal background records in response to last summer's shooting of Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman, in her home by a sheriff's deputy who had responded to her call for help. Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed the legislation, which requires disclosure of everything from job performance reports to nonpublic settlement agreements. It resulted from indiscretions that came to light in the background of Sean Grayson, the ex-sheriff's deputy charged with first-degree murder in the case. Pritzker, surrounded by Massey's family in the state Capitol, said the first-in-the-nation law should serve as an example for other states as he let Massey's 'spirit guide us to action.' 'Our justice system needs to be built on trust,' the Democrat said. 'Communities should be able to trust that when they call the police to their home, the responding officer will be well-trained and without a history of bias or misconduct, and police officers should be able to trust that they are serving alongside responsible and capable individuals.' The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat and friend of the Masseys, and Chicago Democratic Rep. Kam Buckner, who noted that Thursday marks the 117th anniversary of the three-day Race Riot in Springfield that led to the founding a year later of the NAACP. Who is Sonya Massey? Massey, 36, was a single mother of two teenagers who had a strong religious faith and struggled with mental health issues. In the early morning of July 6, 2024, she called 911 to report a suspected prowler outside her home in the capital city of Springfield, 201 miles (343 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. Grayson and another deputy searched but found no one. Inside Massey's house, confusion over a pot of hot water Massey picked up and her curious response to Grayson — 'I rebuke you in the name of Jesus' — which the deputy said he took to mean she wanted to kill him, prompted him to fire on Massey, hitting her right below the eye. What prompted the legislation? The 31-year-old Grayson was 14 months into his career as a Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy when he answered Massey's call. His arrest two weeks later prompted an examination of his record, which showed several trouble spots. In his early 20s, he was convicted of driving under the influence twice within a year, the first of which got him kicked out of the Army. He had four law enforcement jobs — mostly part-time — in six years. One past employer noted that he was sloppy in handling evidence and called him a braggart. Others said he was impulsive. What does the law require? Those seeking policing jobs must sign a waiver allowing past employers to release unredacted background materials, including job performance reports, physical and psychological fitness-for-duty reports, civil and criminal court records, and, even otherwise nonpublic documents such as nondisclosure or separation agreements. 'It isn't punitive to any police officer. The same kind of commonsense legislation needs to be done nationwide,' James Wilburn, Massey's father, said. 'People should not be able to go from department to department and their records not follow them.' The hiring agency may see the contents of documents sealed by court order by getting a judge's approval, and court action is available to compel a former employer to hand over records. 'Several departments need to pick up their game and implement new procedures, but what's listed here (in the law) is what should be minimally done in a background check,' said Kenny Winslow, executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, who helped negotiate the proposal. Would the law have prevented Grayson's hiring? Ironically, no. Most of what was revealed about Grayson after his arrest was known to Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who was forced to retire early because of the incident. Campbell was aware of Grayson's shortcomings and, as a result, made him repeat the state's 16-week police training course. Even an incident that didn't surface until six weeks after the shooting — a dash-cam video of Grayson, working as a deputy in a nearby county, ignoring an order to halt a high-speed chase and then hitting a deer with his squad car — would not have disqualified him, Campbell said at the time. 'We can't decide who they do or don't hire, but what we can do is put some parameters in place so that the information will be there and the right decision can be made,' Buckner said. What's next? Grayson, who also faces charges of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in October.
