Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr sits in court during the second day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Schurr is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. (WOOD-TV via AP, Pool)
Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr enters the Kent County Courthouse with his wife Brandey in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday, May 2, 2025. (Joel Bissell /Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Body worn camera footage showing former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr with a Taser7 and Patrick Lyoya is shown during the third day at the Kent County Courthouse with his wife Brandey in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump holds a press conference with friends and family of Patrick Lyoya after former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr testified during the fifth day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker cross-examines David Siver, GRPD Capt., as he testifies during the fourth day of trial for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, during a traffic stop, at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Defense attorney Matthew Borgula listens as Judge Christina Mims addresses the courtroom during the fourth day of trial for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, during a traffic stop, at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 1 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)
Jurors in Michigan officer’s murder trial are struggling to reach a verdict, told to keep trying
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) 鈥 A judge urged jurors to keep working Tuesday after they said they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of a Michigan police officer who fatally shot a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant minutes after a routine traffic stop.
Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr sits in court during the second day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Schurr is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. (WOOD-TV via AP, Pool)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) 鈥 A judge urged jurors to keep working Tuesday after they said they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of a Michigan police officer who fatally shot a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant minutes after a routine traffic stop.
鈥淭alk things over in the spirit of fairness and frankness. ... By reasoning the matter out, jurors can often reach agreement,” Kent County Judge Christina Mims said.
Christopher Schurr has in the killing of Patrick Lyoya following a brief foot chase and fierce physical struggle in a Grand Rapids residential neighborhood in 2022.
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Schurr, 34, is charged with second-degree murder, but the jury can also consider a lesser charge of manslaughter. After a pep talk from the judge, jurors resumed discussions and will return again Wednesday. Deliberations began Monday afternoon.
Lyoya鈥檚 mother rocked side to side in her seat as the judge spoke. Schurr and his wife left the courtroom holding hands.
The shooting on a cool, rainy spring morning was Schurr was on top of Lyoya and had lost control of a Taser to him. He repeatedly ordered Lyoya to drop the weapon and to stop resisting before he shot him in the back of the head.
In his closing argument, prosecutor Chris Becker said Lyoya was 鈥渘o saint,鈥 noting his resistance, a high blood-alcohol level and his lack of a driver’s license.
But 鈥渘one of those are executable offenses,鈥 Becker told the jury.
Defense attorney Matthew Borgula said Schurr genuinely feared for his life after losing control of his Taser, which is designed to temporarily incapacitate someone with electric current.
鈥淐hristopher Schurr was at work, and he was faced with the toughest decision of his life in half a second,鈥 Borgula said.
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Schurr was fired from the Grand Rapids department.
The shooting prompted protests in the city, and demonstrators on both sides have stood outside the courthouse during the trial with signs that say, 鈥淪tand with Schurr鈥 and 鈥淛ustice for Patrick.鈥
Civil rights groups decried the shooting as more aggression in the U.S. by white officers.
