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Law professor: Retrial of Christopher Schurr could happen by end of year

By: Sam Landstra

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — If the case of Christopher Schurr returns to trial, it will likely happen by the end of the year, a law professor says.

"Could it get up and running again by the end of the year? All things considered? Probably," said Tonya Krause-Phelan, who teaches at WMU's Cooley Law School.

On Thursday, a mistrial was declared in the former Grand Rapids police officer's second-degree murder case as jurors were unable to deliver a verdict after four days of deliberation.

Schurr continues to be charged in the death of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old black man whom he fatally shot in the back of the head as the two struggled over his taser during an April 2022 traffic stop.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker may now retry the case with a new jury, dismiss the charge or enter into a plea agreement with the defendant.

Becker may also charge Schurr with voluntary manslaughter, a lesser offense, as opposed to second-degree murder.

Shooting death of Patrick Lyoya

Prosecutor: No decision yet on whether to retry Christopher Schurr

Sam Landstra

If the case is retried, the legal process will be shorter as the prosecutor will not need to reestablish probable cause that Schurr committed a crime, a step completed during a preliminary exam.

"There are very few sure things you can say in a criminal case, but I am pretty confident it will not take three years," said Krause-Phelan, referencing the time that passed between Lyoya's death and this week's mistrial.

"They just pick it up where they left off," she added.

Schurr's defense team may file an interlocutory appeal, though, which would likely postpone the potential scheduling of a trial date.

An interlocutory appeal is an appeal filed during the course of a legal case, rather than after a judge or jury's ruling.

"He's alluded to the fact that they'll probably do that," Krause-Phelan said about defense attorney Matthew Borgula, who spoke to reporters in a post-trial press conference on Thursday.

Here, Borgula objected to testimony from one of the prosecution's expert witnesses who introduced the idea of "officer-created jeopardy," a term that refers to how police officers' own actions can put themselves at risk.

"I think the jury was confused," the defense attorney said about officer-created jeopardy.

Borgula also claimed Judge Christina Mims displayed bias during the trial, an allegation the judge denied.

These complaints, Krause-Phelan says, could be included as part of a potential interlocutory appeal.

"There's a lot of really interesting legal issues that could play out if this case is tried again," she said.

The availability of expert witnesses and a courtroom would also likely affect scheduling, as would the availability of a transcript from the first trial.

If a witness from the first trial were to take the stand in the second trial and subsequently say something contrary to their prior testimony, Krause-Phelan says evidentiary rules would allow lawyers to use their words against them.

A transcript would allow both the prosecution and defense to review prior testimony.

Regardless of scheduling factors, though, the decision whether to set a trial date at all lies with Becker.

"To see that we didn't have any violence erupt when this case ended in a mistrial, that, for the most part, the support expressed outside the courthouse for both sides was peaceful, I think [Becker] can feel comfortable that the community is going to accept whatever decision he makes," Krause-Phelan said.