GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Monday, the jury in the case against Officer Christopher Schurr has been sent home after four hours of deliberation, raising questions about their alignment on the evidence presented during the trial.
Lew Langham, Professor Emeritus at Cooley Law School and former Michigan State Police detective, says the amount of time they've deliberated so far is not that long.
"They're free to proceed in any manner they want to. Once they get back and start deliberating, four hours is a small amount of time at this point, based upon the number of witnesses and the seriousness of the offense that the officer is charged with. So it's going to take some time," Langham noted.
As deliberations continue, it is likely that the jurors have appointed a foreman and have discussed their individual views on the case. Langham says they have also likely decided whether to review the expert testimony first or focus on Officer Schurr's account of events.
During closing arguments, the defense urged the jurors to evaluate Schurr’s split-second decision to shoot and kill Patrick Lyoya, asking them to disregard the surrounding "noise." Langham highlighted the potential impact of expert testimony, stating that the conflicting opinions from both sides may ultimately cancel each other out, leaving the jury to focus on the incident itself.
"Simplicity will win the day in the end, and the jurors are going to be sitting there in the jury room deliberating right now, talking about, why didn't Patrick just stop? Why didn't he let go of the taser? Why did Officer Christopher Schurr feel he needed to make the decision to fire his weapon? It's going to boil down to those simplistic ideas and thoughts in the jury's mind," Langham said.
While it remains unclear how long the jury will deliberate, Langham anticipates a decision could come in the next few days.
Click here for more coverage on the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya.
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