The second-degree murder trial for ex-Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr, who placed a gun to the back of the head of 26-year-old Congolese immigrant Patrick Lyoya and killed him, is drawing to a close. Both the prosecution and the defense has made their closing arguments, and now we’re waiting for the jury to finish deliberations.
According to The Detroit News, Schurr took the stand last Friday and said the thing cops virtually always say when they’re in the hot seat after being accused of an extrajudicial execution: basically, a variation of “I was in fear for my life.”
“I believed that if I hadn’t of done it at that time … then I wasn’t gonna go home,” Schurr said.
For those who need a refresher, on April 4, 2022, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Schurr, 34, pulled Lyoya over because the plates on the vehicle he was driving didn’t match. At one point, after a brief confrontation with the officer, Lyoya attempted to flee the stop. Schurr managed to tackle Lyoya and pull out his taser, which the two struggled over before Schurr got Lyoya face-down on the ground, placed his service weapon to the back of his head, and, at point-blank range, shot and killed him. Video footage of the stop taken from police body camera, dashboard camera, a doorbell camera and the cell phone of the passenger riding in Lyoya’s car was released to the public by the GRPD on April 13 of that year.
“What it boils down to is just a few elements,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said during closing arguments. “Patrick died from a gunshot wound to the head. I’m not gonna sit here and argue Patrick was a saint. He was drunk driving. He was driving without a driver’s license. Those are not executable offenses. He didn’t deserve to die.”
From the Detroit News:
He said Lyoya did some “dumb, bad things,” as did Schurr.
“There are critical mistakes that occurred — that a reasonable officer wouldn’t make these decisions,” he said.
Becker told the jury that they aren’t supposed to evaluate the case in terms of who is a better person, but on the totality of the circumstances.
“You’ve got to base your decision on the facts of the case. Not well, (Schurr’s) a hometown boy who wanted to do good and (Lyoya’s) a bad guy who was drunk driving,” Becker said.
“It was reasonable to shoot Patrick because he had the Taser and Officer Schurr was exhausted — that was the excuse,” Becker said. “He didn’t point it. … (Schurr) thought he would point it. He simply had the Taser. He was exhausted and alone. Why? Why were you in that situation?
“You can’t take a life without a darned-good reason,” Becker said. “And that’s not enough. Pain is not a reason to use deadly force. … How does a reasonable officer in this situation say: I’m gonna die?”
Schurr’s attorney, Matt Borgula, of course, had a different take.
“The prosecutor is trying to make this case something it’s not,” Borgula said. “You’re not here to reasonably judge if he had a reason to chase (Lyoya). You’re not here to judge GRPD policy. You have to find that beyond a reasonable doubt, Officer Schurr had a legitimate fear of great bodily harm or death.”
“Patrick Lyoya grabbed it (the taser) and never let go … and decides he’s not giving it back. And then the fight is on,” Borgula said. “They both want the taser. And Officer Schurr has a right to it and Patrick Lyoya did not.”
“Christopher Schurr was at work and he was faced with the toughest decision of his life in half a second,” Borgula said. “Was it reasonable in that split second that an officer could be in fear of the Taser? He has no idea what Patrick Lyoya is going to do with it, but he doesn’t have time to figure it out. He has half a second to make up his mind.”
Look, while it’s absolutely true that Lyoya was out there playing around with his own life, placing a gun to the back of someone’s head and pulling the trigger is a decision, a deliberate one that a reasonable person would say Schurr had time to not make. Many would argue that, in a perfect world, that would be the crux of the issue jurors are tasked with deciding.
So, now we wait to see what the jury decides in this world.
SEE ALSO:
Jury Selection For Former Grand Rapids Cop Who Killed Patrick Lyoya Begins As Trial Looms
Patrick Lyoya’s Family Lawsuit Claims Grand Rapids Cops Have A Racist ‘Custom’: Here Are Some Examples
Jury To Decide Fate Of Ex-Grandrapids Cop Who Killed Congolese Immigrant Patrick Lyoya
was originally published on
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