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A judge has declared a mistrial for the former Michigan cop who was charged with murder in the 2022 shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, per Wood TV.
Ex-Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr was on trial for second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Lyoya, a father of two and refugee from the Republic of Congo.
On April 4, 2022, Schurr attempted to arrest Lyoya for having an unregistered license plate. After the then-officer asked for his license, Lyoya fled on foot. Schurr chased after Lyoya, tackled him on the lawn of a nearby residence, kneeled on him, and drew his Taser. Lyoya then put his hands on the officer's stun gun, which prompted Schurr to draw his service weapon and shoot him in the back of the head.
During his trial, Schurr's attorneys argued that the former officer was defending himself after Lyoya touched his Taser during the struggle. Prosecutors accused Schurr of using excessive force during the traffic stop.
Court proceedings ended in a mistrial on Thursday (May 8) after the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict following 20 hours of deliberation.
“What happened today is not what anybody expected or wanted,” prosecutor Chris Becker said in a statement. “We were hoping to get a conclusion. We thought we’d put a good case forward. Obviously, the jury thought differently. They were hung.”
Lyoya's family said they were "extremely disappointed" by the outcome of the trial.
“The image of my son being killed, it came back again,” Lyoya’s father, Peter, said. “We were fighting and we thought we were getting to the close of this case and were going to get the justice. I want to say that (the hung jury) hurt my family, my wife. We are bleeding, we are in pain.”
Becker said he hasn't decided on whether he will retry the case in front of a new jury, saying, “It’s a process and I’m not going to rush into it.”
“I’m not going to let this drag out,” he said. “I’m going to be considerate of the community. I think this is a big, big decision, I’m not going to rush through it … but it’s not going to be June. I don’t have a specific timeline, but I hope to know relatively soon.”
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