Jury deliberations are now underway in the murder trial of former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr.
Schurr is facing second-degree murder charges for shooting Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head following a struggle during a traffic stop. Jurors will also be allowed to convict him of the lesser charge, voluntary manslaughter.
Defense attorneys argued Lyoya was holding Schurr’s taser when he was shot.
“The issue is reasonable fear,” attorney Matt Borgula told jurors during his closing argument in the case.
Borgula said Lyoya was initially trying to flee in the traffic stop, but he stood back up when Schurr tackled him. And by the end, he said Lyoya had exclusive control of Schurr’s taser.
“He has no idea why Patrick Lyoya’s fighting this hard, and he doesn’t have time to figure it out,” Borgula said of Schurr. “He’s got half a second to make up his mind.”
Schurr testified on Friday in the case, and told jurors he was afraid Lyoya would tase him and then take his gun.
“It’s not that he pointed the taser,” prosecutor Chris Becker said in his closing argument. “He simply had the taser, that’s it.”
Becker said Lyoya never tried to harm Schurr, and was only trying to get away. He pointed out that Schurr was on top of Lyoya and had just pushed him back down at the time he fired his gun into the back of Lyoya’s head.
“There was no threat there,” Becker said of Lyoya. “He wanted to get away.”
This story will be updated.
