GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A member of the jury that couldn’t reach a verdict in the Christopher Schurr murder trial said race never came up in the deliberations, that Schurr helped himself by taking the stand and that there was one main holdout that kept the former officer from being acquitted.

That holdout, he told Target 8 in an exchange of emails, was the jury foreperson — the only Black jury member on the 12-person jury. Schurr’s defense team confirmed that.

The jury could not reach a verdict after four days and 21 hours of deliberations, leading to a mistrial. Prosecutor Chris Becker on Thursday announced he would not retry the case that has divided the community. Becker has said the jury voted 10-2 in favor of acquittal. The defense attorney said it was 11-1 for acquittal.

In an exchange of emails with Target 8, a member of the jury wrote that the foreperson “claimed there was no way that they could see Schurr actually fearing for his life” as he and Patrick Lyoya struggled over the officer’s Taser. 

Schurr, who is white, encountered Lyoya, who is Black, during a traffic stop in April 2022.

The juror, one of three men on the jury, said it wouldn’t have made sense to retry Schurr, as “they are going to have a real tough time finding 12 people who would unanimously vote guilty in Kent County based on majority demographics alone.” 

The 12-member jury was made up of nine women and three men. Ten were white, one Hispanic and one, the foreperson, was Black. 

The juror who spoke to Target 8 didn’t want to be identified.

“Ultimately,” he wrote, “I would like to avoid having my name or any personal information attached to this as I’m not looking for that kind of exposure.”

The jury deliberated for parts of four days before announcing it couldn’t reach a verdict on May 8 on either the murder charge or manslaughter. The juror said the final vote was either 11-1 or 10-2 for acquittal on the second-degree murder charge.

“We didn’t even really discuss manslaughter much because of the fact (that) we couldn’t agree on the primary charge,” the juror wrote. 

Either way, it led the judge to declare a mistrial.

Target 8 tried talking to other members of the jury: some could not be reached, some declined comment and others did not respond to our requests for interviews.

The death of Patrick Lyoya led to marches and protests and visits by civil rights leaders, including Al Sharpton.

But the juror said race was not part of the deliberations.

“For what it’s worth,” he wrote, “even with a diverse jury, the white/Black narrative was never something that was even considered in our conversations. It was more about the training/policies than potential political tension.” 

Three members of the Grand Rapids Police Department, including two captains, testified that Schurr followed his training and department policies.

The juror also wrote that the testimony of Schurr helped sway some.

 “I do believe, based on being around all of the other jurors and with discussion with them throughout the trial, that Chris taking the stand provided clarity for some of those that remained on the fence about their vote,” he wrote.

Schurr testified that he feared for his life as he and Lyoya fought over his Taser.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Kent County commissioner who has stood with the family of Patrick Lyoya since he was shot and killed by a then-Grand Rapids police officer says the family is heartbroken knowing the criminal case is over.

“(The Lyoya family is) very hurt, still trying to understand the American justice system. They don’t see any excuse for this verdict or for the person who shot their son in the back of the head to be free,” Commissioner Robert Womack said. “We’re going to continue to work them on the healing process.”

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced Thursday that he would not retry Christopher Schurr, whom he had charged with second-degree murder in the April 2022 death of Lyoya, a 26-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. After years of appeals, the case went to trial in late April. On May 8, the jury deadlocked.

Schurr’s attorneys, Matthew Borgula and Mark Dodge, said their client feels relieved and vindicated by Becker’s decision.

“But certainly not celebration,” Dodge said. “As far as the last three years, it’s never been anything to celebrate for Mr. Schurr and his family.”

“The prosecutor got this right here, that a retrial wouldn’t be good for anybody because at best it would’ve ended up in another hung jury,” Borgula said.

In a Facebook post, the Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge of Michigan commended Becker’s choice not to pursue a retrial.

“This decision reflects a recognition of the complex and split-second circumstances law enforcement officers face in the line of duty,” the post read.

The attorney representing Lyoya’s family in a civil wrongful death suit against Schurr said in a statement that the decision not to retry meant the family would never see justice in a criminal court.

“The Lyoya family has not only lost Patrick, but now the hope that former officer Christopher Schurr will ever be held criminally accountable for taking Patrick’s life. With today’s decision, what was once a pause in justice has now become a permanent reality. This is not a verdict nor the outcome the Lyoya family sought,” attorney Ven Johnson stated. “We will continue to stand with the Lyoya family in their pursuit of truth, accountability and justice for Patrick, and are awaiting our day in civil court.”

Womack praised Becker’s work on the case and takes the prosecutor at his word that a guilty verdict would be difficult to achieve.

“I think the jury is reflective of the community , that we are split in half when it comes to this situation here in Grand Rapids,” Womack said

Greater Grand Rapids NAACP President Cle Jackson and Urban League of West Michigan President Eric Brown feel differently.

“My initial reaction was anger. I’ll be candid. It was anger then it moved to disappointment and devastation. I could not believe this was the decision he came to,” Brown said.

They say Lyoya’s family and the community deserved another chance.

“It’s devastating. It’s devastating. We had an opportunity to again to go back, retry and try to get it right. Patrick deserves that,” Jackson said. “The Lyoya family deserves that opportunity to retry. Just like the ex-officer Schurr had an opportunity to due process.”

“We had the opportunity to get it right, didn’t make it, but we had another opportunity to do even better, to try even harder. I think that was justice disserved,” Brown agreed.

They argued the leader of Michigan State Police, the Grand Rapids police chief and the Grand Rapids city manager all should have been called to testify as expert witnesses, and questioned why a woman whose husband is a police officer was allowed to remain on the jury.

Jackson and Brown say they have reached out to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, urging her to take up the case.

Womack said his goal now is to continue to fight for reforms to policing in West Michigan.

“This just gives us more motivation to fight for better police and community relations. That’s only going to change with policies, training and laws being changed that will protect our community from incidents like this,” he said.

Jackson, the NAACP president, noted the Grand Rapids Police Department did make some changes to policy after Lyoya’s death, said those changes don’t have any teeth.

“There’s no level of enforcement and oversight embedded in policy,” he said.

In statements Thursday, Grand Rapids city leaders said they are committed to ongoing dialogue and reforms.

 A jury says it cannot reach a verdict in the case of a former Grand Rapids police officer who was accused of murder after he shot and killed a man following a traffic stop three years ago.

The jury deliberated for more than 20 hours before telling the judge Thursday it was hopelessly deadlocked in the case of Christopher Schurr in the death of Patrick Lyoya.

“I did receive communication that you were unable to reach a verdict,” Kent County Circuit Court Judge Christina Mims said as the jury returned to the courtroom Thursday morning. “I wanted to verify that that’s true, that you’re unable to reach a verdict as a panel?”

“Correct,” the jury foreperson replied.

Mims then declared a mistrial.

Jurors had said Tuesday they could not reach a verdict. At that time, Mims told them to keep deliberating. They did so, continued their work through Wednesday and returned Thursday morning.

“To keep sending (jurors) back (to keep deliberating) would have been a little more fraught in the sense that you don’t want to put the jurors in a situation where they’re feeling pressure to compromise,” Professor Tracey Brame of Cooley Law School explained to News 8 after the mistrial was declared. “The verdict has to be unanimous. They could not find a place where all 12 of them could land. I’m not surprised based on the evidence we heard in the case.”

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker must now decide whether to try the case again in front of a new jury.

“It will come down to whether he thinks he can get a verdict in this case,” Brame said.

Assuming he does go forward with another trial, Brame acknowledged that “it’s going to be a challenge to empanel a set of jurors who not only haven’t seen coverage of the case, but who have not already formed opinions of the case.”

She noted attorneys could move for a change of venue if they feel they cannot find an unbiased jury in Kent County.

THE SHOOTING

No one ever disputed that Schurr shot and killed Lyoya, a 26-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The question the jury could not decide an answer to was whether it was murder.

“What this boils down to is this was unjustifiable and unreasonable,” the prosecutor told jurors during his opening statement. “It was a crime.” 

“This case is about self-defense. This was not murder. This was about self-defense,” defense attorney Mikayla Hamilton said. “(Schurr) acted to save his own life.” 

The shooting happened the morning of April 4, 2022, during a traffic stop on Grand Rapids’ Southeast Side. Lyoya had been drinking before he died, a witness testified, and his blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit to drive, his autopsy showed

Video from the traffic stop shows Lyoya running away from Schurr and an about 2.5-minute struggle between the two, including them grappling over Schurr’s Taser. Ultimately, Schurr, who was on top of Lyoya trying to hold him down, shot him in the back of the head. 

“It was happening fast,” Lyoya’s passenger Aime Tuyishime testified on the first day of the trial. 

Wayne Butler, who lives near where the shooting happened, testified he saw it happen. 

“This isn’t going to end good,” he recalled thinking. 

The prosecutor said the shooting was not justified and charged Schurr with second-degree murder in June 2022. Schurr was fired from the police department. 

Schurr claimed self-defense. A series of appeals from his legal team meant it was more than three years after Lyoya’s death that the case finally went to trial. 

A jury of 14 people — 10 women and four men — was seated April 23, and the trial got underway April 28. 

TESTIMONY

At the center of the case was Schurr’s Taser and the struggle over it. The prosecution called an expert witness from manufacturer Axon to explain to the jury how it worked. He explained it was fired twice — its maximum — and at that point, the harm it could have caused Schurr was less serious than when someone is hit by the darts — though it could have still been dangerous. 

Two experts in police use of force said that, in their opinion, Schurr’s decision to shoot Lyoya was not reasonable. They said Schurr made tactical errors before the shooting. One said Schurr should not have chased Lyoya while Lyoya’s passenger was still in the car. The other said Schurr pulled his Taser too close to Lyoya, giving Lyoya the chance to grab it. One also argued Schurr should have given a specific warning that he was going to shoot Lyoya before he pulled the trigger. 

The defense worked to show that Schurr was in fear for his life when he pulled the trigger. Witnesses called by the defense included officers who responded to the scene after the shooting. They described Schurr as exhausted. 

The defense also called Grand Rapids Police Department captains who said Schurr did not violate department policies in his interaction with Lyoya and that it was reasonable for Schurr to shoot him because Lyoya had gained control of his Taser and posed a threat to his safety.

An expert on exertion and exhaustion factors for a company that provides training to law enforcement told the jury that it looked to him like Lyoya was in control of the fight with Schurr and didn’t seem affected by Schurr’s efforts to subdue him.

Taking the stand in his own defense Friday, Schurr said he was already exhausted by the struggle by the time he drew his Taser. When Lyoya grabbed it, he said, he was afraid Lyoya would use it on him. By the time he drew his gun, Schurr said, he was “running on fumes” and afraid for his life.

“I believe if I didn’t do what I did when I did it, I wouldn’t be here today,” Schurr said.

Schurr did not have to testify. He said he chose to because he felt it was “important to get my side of the story out.”

Under cross-examination, the prosecutor tried to show that Lyoya was just working to get away from Schurr rather than harm him.

“At no point did he go for your gun, did he?” Becker said.

“No,” Schurr responded.

Cooley Law Professor Tracey Brame said it was “essential” for the jury to hear Schurr’s testimony.

“They asked him more questions than any of the other witnesses,” Brame said. “That really allowed them to get a window what he was thinking and feeling at the time. And it seems from their questions and the difficulty in coming to a consensus that they were really struggling with what to do with that.”

The video of the shooting, Brame pointed out, evokes a “visceral” reaction. She said breaking down the images in court allowed the jury to put the actions into context.

“Being able to look at this frame: Did the suspect have the Taser in his hand? What position was he in, etc? It kind of brought it back from an emotional response into a more analytical space where they were able to, again, put into context these actions within the fame of GRPD policy and the law,” she said.

Testimony wrapped up Monday morning, and attorneys for both sides delivered their closing arguments to the jury.

“This is a real man, a human being, shot in the back of the head,” Becker said. “I’m not going to sit here and argue Patrick was a saint. He was drunk driving. He was resisting. He was driving without a driver’s license. None of those are executable offenses.”

Becker told the jury that Schurr made critical mistakes after he pulled over Lyoya that day. He said Lyoya was only trying to get away from Schurr and never posed a threat to him, even if he had gained control of the Taser.

“Pain is not a reason to use deadly force,” Becker said. “Pain of a thousand burning suns doesn’t justify it.”

Defense attorney Matthew Borgula said Becker “failed miserably” to make the case that Schurr was guilty.

“You should find him not guilty after the government’s case,” Borgula said. “His entire life is on the line. The prosecutor cannot show that his fear was unreasonable.”

Borgula reminded the jury that Schurr made a lawful stop when he pulled Lyoya over and stressed that Lyoya resisted him. He argued the prosecution’s expert witnesses were viewing the case in hindsight.

“Judge (Schurr) on the decision, and not all this noise around it,” Borgula said. “If you have any sliver of reasonable doubt, you must acquit.”