Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced Thursday morning his office will not retry the murder case against a former Grand Rapids police officer. Christopher Schurr’s first trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month after the jury deadlocked over a decision.
“It’s not a decision I made lightly,” Becker said.
Ultimately, he said it came down to two things; he felt they presented the best case that they could, and he felt they had a good jury that paid attention, and asked good questions.
"I think this is a split community on this issue," Becker said. "I don't see us being able to reach a verdict." Becker said he watched portions of the trial and went back and forth on his decision.
“I still trust in the jury system and this sometimes happens,” Becker said.
Kent County Commissioner Robert S. Womack, who sat with the Lyoya family throughout the trial, said he spoke to Patrick's father Peter after hearing the news.
"They were very broken, very hurt," Womack said, "still trying to understand the American justice system."
Lyoya's family immigrated to the U.S. as refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Becker said he also spoke to Peter Lyoya.
"This has been a very difficult case, and I apologized profusely," Becker said. "I'm very sorry I couldn't bring it to a conclusion for them."
Becker said jurors ultimately were 10 - 2 in favor of acquitting Schurr in the case, a fact that played a role in his decision not to try the case a second time.
On April 4, 2022 then-GRPD officer Schurr pulled over a grey sedan for an alleged license plate violation. That stop escalated into a struggle with the driver, Patrick Lyoya, and ended with Schurr firing a single bullet into the back of Lyoya’s head.
Becker made the decision to charge Schurr in June of 2022, after reviewing the findings of a Michigan State Police investigation.
During the trial, Schurr took the stand and told the jury he feared for his life during the struggle with Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant. His lawyers argue Schurr was exhausted and acted in self-defense when Lyoya grabbed his taser.
Schurr said he was afraid that if Lyoya tased him, Lyoya could take his gun and shoot him with it. So he acted even while Lyoya was face down, before he had the chance to threaten him with the taser.
But to Becker, the prosecutor, that was a threat that never existed, because Lyoya wasn’t trying to harm Schurr. He was trying to escape.
Schurr's attorneys reacted to Becker's decision Thursday afternoon.
"Obviously a sense of relief, vindication, following the trial and now this decision," said attorney Mark Dodge, who said he spoke to Schurr after he learned of the decision not to retry the case. "But certainly not celebration ... For the last three years it's never been anything to celebrate."
Dodge and Matt Borgula, another attorney for Schurr, said he never wanted to take a life. The case they said was tragic for all involved.
Borgula said he understood why many in the community were upset by seeing the video of Schurr shooting Lyoya.
"You're not a human being if you're not upset by watching that video, and so yes it's hard to get around that," Borgula said.
But the legal case, he said, came down to whether Schurr had a reasonable fear in the moment that he could have been severely injured or killed by Lyoya once Lyoya had his taser.
Borgula said Becker's comments showed most jurors in the trial agreed his fear was reasonable, and the killing was therefor justified.
Lyoya’s family previously encouraged Becker to retry the case. The family’s attorney said his team will be pursuing civil charges against Schurr. He challenged the defense’s use of Patrick’s possession of the taser as a valid reason for deadly force.
