GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The homicide trial towards the previous Grand Rapids police officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya is scheduled to start this month.
Friday marks three years since Lyoya was killed by former officer Christopher Schurr in southeast Grand Rapids. A memorial with flowers, stuffed animals and messages stays on the scene the place Lyoya died close to the intersection of Griggs Avenue and Nelson Avenue SE.
A memorial to Patrick Lyoya stays in a southeast Grand Rapids yard three years after his dying.
There is not any altering what occurred on this entrance yard in Grand Rapids
Identical to it was yesterday, Larger Grand Rapids NAACP President Cle Jackson remembers protesters marching by the streets calling for justice for weeks.
“I have heard from some folks, ‘Have we forgotten, has the community forgotten about this?'” Jackson mentioned. “The community hasn’t forgotten about this, not at all.”
Schurr shot and killed Lyoya after a site visitors cease the morning of April 4, 2022. Video launched by police exhibits Lyoya operating away from Schurr and the 2 struggling over Schurr’s Taser. In the end, Schurr, who was on high of Lyoya attempting to carry him down, shot him at the back of the pinnacle.
Patrick Lyoya’s passenger: Wrestle and capturing ‘happened so fast’
Schurr was later charged with second-degree homicide after which fired. Coverage modifications round use of pressure and de-escalation had been later made contained in the Grand Rapids Police Division.
An undated photograph of Patrick Lyoya courtesy household.
With the trial simply weeks away, Jackson mentioned protesters shall be again.
“I think community will show up,” Jackson mentioned. “The community has not forgotten about it because the fact of the matter is the world witnessed a very tragic and devastating murder, in our opinion.”
Since a decide dominated in late 2022 there’s sufficient proof to ship the case to trial, Schurr’s attorneys have spent years interesting the choice all the way in which as much as the Michigan Supreme Courtroom. The excessive court docket denied their last enchantment in December.
Jury choice is scheduled to start April 21 and the trial is ready for April 28, although these dates may change.
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Ven Johnson, who represents the Lyoya household in a civil lawsuit towards Schurr, mentioned they continue to be upset the authorized course of has taken this lengthy.
“It’s devastating to them,” he mentioned. “They feel betrayed, they feel abandoned.”
Considered one of Schurr’s attorneys, Matthew Borgula, has defended his proper to enchantment and mentioned delays are regular in a case like this. Borgula declined an interview request as a result of upcoming trial however supplied a press release.
“Officer Schurr and his legal team look forward to his day in Court and are confident that he will be exonerated,” he wrote in an e mail Thursday.
Chris Schurr in a Grand Rapids courtroom for the top of his preliminary listening to on Oct. 31, 2022.
Information 8 has additionally reached out to some teams supporting Schurr however hasn’t but heard again.
Whereas prosecutors say Schurr’s resolution to make use of lethal pressure was pointless, Schurr’s attorneys have argued the capturing was justified. They are saying Lyoya turned a felon by resisting arrest and being a menace all through the battle and prompt officers are inside their rights to shoot fleeing felons.
“You have a person who will not comply, who grabs a Taser, who ultimately takes the Taser from his left hand to his right,” Borgula mentioned throughout an October 2022 listening to. “At some point it got transferred.”
Jackson disagrees, arguing that Schurr’s use of pressure was “very unwarranted and very unnecessary.” He hopes the trial sparks a dialog round “commonsense legislation around criminal justice reform” on the state degree.
“At some point, I am hopeful that community and law enforcement can come together in a real authentic way and be committed to making sure incidents like these never ever happen again,” he mentioned.
