Christopher Schurr trial: Jury deliberations begin in ex-officer's murder trial

Jury deliberating in Grand Rapids murder trial

The trial is taking place in Kent County court and FOX 2 is streaming the coverage every day. Court will resume around 9 a.m. Monday, with delayed coverage above.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Jurors will hear more testimony from the defense when the murder trial for former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr resumes Monday. Schurr is charged with second-degree murder for shooting and killing Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in 2022.

The trial is taking place in Kent County court and FOX 2 is streaming the coverage every day. Court will resume around 9 a.m. Monday, with delayed coverage above.

Judge gives jury instructions + deliberations begin

The judge outlined the rules for the jury in considering evidence for a murder charge and a manslaughter charge against Schurr.

The jury will now begin deliberations.

Prosecution's rebuttal: A totality of circumstances

The prosecution began its rebuttal against the defense's closing argument, which took aim at witnesses that Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker called to the stand.

He said the defense's witnesses were not experts in their field, targeting both Lewis Von Kliem and David Blake's answers as "comparing apples to oranges" when talking about what Lyoya could have done.

While the defense said the decision by the jury comes down to a moment in time, the prosecutor said its a matter of "the totality of circumstances."

"And why would a reasonable officer when there's been no aggression? There's been nothing - no punching, no kicking, no hitting, no anything think he was going to die because somebody had his taser - that's what's not reasonable about all this," said Becker.

Defense's closing argument: A reasonable threat

The defense attorney said the prosecutor failed "miserably" to prove that Schurr committed murder.

"You are not here to judge GRPD policy. You are not here to judge whether it was reasonable for him to chase Patrick Lyoya," defense attorney Matthew Borgula said. "You have to decide whether the prosecutor has proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

He added "the prosecutor didn't even meet his burden in their case."

Borgula outlined the events that led up to the morning, before repeating Schurr asking Lyoya to get his driver's license.

"So what follows is a series of decisions by both of them. Patrick Lyoya is making decisions. Officer Schurr is responding to those decisions and making decisions on his own based on his training as a police officer," said Borgula.

While citizens and experts have had years to decide what Lyoya intended to do, Borgula argued that Schurr only had a half-second to determine what to do.

"Does he listen to anything officer Schurr is begging him to do," the attorney said of Lyoya.

"In the split-second that Chris had to decide whether or not he poses an imminent threat, all he knows is he's fighting to retain control," said Borgula. "All he knows is he's fighting to retain control. He knows he's lost the taser. He knows that he's turning and rising. His fear is unreasonable?"

No reasonable officer could think that," Borgula added.

Prosecutor's closing argument: Schurr was not reasonable

The prosecution started their closing argument discussing what he has to prove, landing on whether Lyoya's killing was justified and excused.

"You can't take a life without a good reason," said Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker.

Schurr "bit off more than he can chew" when he engaged Lyoya, Becker argued. He was outnumbered, he was up against a bigger opponent, and he didn't know if anyone else was armed or posed a danger, the prosecutor said.

Becker also talked about Schurr's explanation he feared for his life because Lyoya had possession of his taser.

"Patrick did a bunch of dumb bad things, but the defendant did some things that led to the firing of a shot and he's using it as justification ‘well, this all happened, ergo, I need to use deadly force,’" said Becker.

Becker also cited the neighbor's testimony that Lyoya was trying to "not get tased."

"There's an intent to flee, there's no intent to harm," he said. "You don't get to shoot someone because they're trying to get away."

Prosecution calls rebuttal witness

The prosecution called officer Aaron Tubergen back to the stand.

He is a Michigan State Police officer and was part of the department's investigation into the shooting - which is protocol under an agreement between state police and Grand Rapids police.

The prosecution had no more rebuttal witnesses after entering another report into evidence.

Testimony resumes

Lewis Von Kliem is still on the stand after the prosecution finished last week's testimony cross-examining him. The defense called him as an expert in police training and he spoke about the best practices for law enforcement.

He works as a consultant for other public safety groups and police agencies.

After a brief back-and-forth, the defense rested its case.

Previous Schurr trial coverage

On Friday, Schurr took the stand for lengthy testimony.

He described the day of the shooting, as well as the moments leading up to the shooting and what he was thinking before shooting Lyoya in the back of the head.

The shooting happened after a foot chase. Schurr told the court he was confident he could catch Lyoya at the beginning of the chase - eventually tackling him. He also tried using knee strikes on Lyoya's thighs so that he could arrest him.

During the skirmish, Schurr ordered Lyoya to put his arms behind his back. At that time, Schurr repeated a call for more backup, telling the court he was struggling and needed help.

The ex-officer also testified that he had run out of energy and feared for his life during the encounter.

The backstory:

On April 4, 2022, Patrick Lyoya, 26, and a friend were driving in Grand Rapids when an officer pulled up behind them. Schurr, the only officer in his squad vehicle at the time, called a traffic stop in the area of Griggs Street and Nelson Avenue.

Schurr originally pulled Lyoya over for having improper vehicle registration. Lyoya had already been on probation at the time of the stop, which was for owning a license plate that was registered to a different vehicle than the one he was driving.

Lyoya ignored Schurr's orders when he exited his car. He later walked away from the officer, leading Schurr to try and grab him by the arm. Lyoya instead ran.

The altercation between Schurr and Lyoya eventually led to the officer chasing him, calling for backup, and ordering Lyoya to stop resisting several times. The two continued to wrestle, leading to Schurr pulling out a taser, which Lyoya pushed away.

The scene ended with Schurr on top of Lyoya, who was chest down on the ground. Schurr at times could be heard telling Lyoya to let go of his taser. Minutes later, Schurr drew his gun, presses it against the back of Lyoya's head, and shoots him.

The entire incident happened over 5 minutes, from 8:11 a.m. to 8:16 a.m.

Schurr was charged with second-degree murder for the fatal shooting.

The Source: Previous FOX 2 coverage was used to report this story.