The Michigan Supreme Court denied the appeal of a former cop who fatally shot a Black motorist in 2022, making way for his murder trial to move forward.
Former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr, 31, was fired shortly after he was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya.
The former cop shot Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022.
Schurr pulled Lyoya over that day because the license plate on his car didn’t match the vehicle. Footage released by police shows Lyoya getting out of the car, prompting Schurr to tell him to get back in and retrieve his driver’s license.
At one point, Lyoya walks away from his car and Schurr demands him to stop before Lyoya takes off running. Schurr briefly chased after him and attempted to restrain him, leading to a physical struggle. Video shows Schurr tackling Lyoya to the ground and making several attempts to detain him on the front lawn of a nearby home.
During the struggle, Schurr tried to deploy his Taser but appeared to miss. It’s alleged that Lyoya grabbed Schurr’s Taser and cellphone video shows Schurr demanding Lyoya to let go of the device as the scuffle continues.
Schurr manages to gain the upper hand in the scuffle, climbing on top of Lyoya who ends up face down on the ground, then grabs his weapon and fires one fatal shot to the back of Lyoya’s head.
It was later determined that Lyoya was under the influence of alcohol during the encounter.
The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office charged Schurr with second-degree murder in June 2022. The officer of seven years was fired from his job with the Grand Rapids Police Department shortly after the charges were announced and was bound over for trial after a preliminary examination in October 2022.
Schurr’s attorneys attempted to appeal the decision to send his case to trial, asserting that their client was reasonably acting within his rights as a police officer to use lethal force, but their appeal failed at the circuit and appellate court levels.
The appeal was sent to the Michigan Supreme Court where justices turned it down in a 5-2 ruling.
A one-page order states the justices denied hearing the appeal because they were “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.”
The two dissenting judges recommended the appeal be remanded to the Michigan Court of Appeals to conduct another review of whether Lyoya was in possession of a dangerous weapon at the time of the shooting.
Kent County Prosecutor Christopher Becker stated he was “pleased” with the court’s decision and that “the courts at all levels have consistently held throughout this process that the charges were justified.”
“We hope to move forward as quickly as possible to have a final resolution for Patrick’s family who has been patiently waiting for years for this to occur,” prosecutor Chris Becker told CBS News Monday.
Schurr’s defense attorney Matthew Borgula stated he was disappointed by the court’s decision and doesn’t believe his client “committed a crime.” He shared that a plea deal seems unlikely.
Attorney Ven Johnson, the lawyer representing the Lyoya family, released a statement following the ruling:
“On behalf of the Lyoya family, we are thrilled to announce that in the Schurr criminal case appeal, the Michigan Supreme Court has ‘denied the application for leave to appeal,’ which means it will not be hearing this case at this time. Accordingly, the case will now return to the trial court, where a scheduling conference and trial date will likely be set for some time in 2025.”
Schurr is also facing a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by Lyoya’s family members who claim that the former cop violated Lyoya’s Fourth Amendment constitutional rights. Schurr’s legal team contended that the complaint doesn’t sufficiently establish enough proof that Schurr’s actions were unconstitutional and argued that their client is protected by qualified immunity.
According to Spartan News from the Michigan State University School of Journalism, qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine that shields government workers from lawsuits when they commit some act of gross misconduct or negligence while on duty.
Cornell Law School details it as a “type of legal immunity,” that “balances two important interests — the need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably.”
Lyoya’s family members previously stated that they wanted Schurr’s second-degree murder charge to be upgraded to first-degree. In Michigan, a second-degree murder conviction means life in prison with the possibility of parole.
A trial date for Schurr has not yet been set.
