GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A judge denied a motion on Thursday to ban "certain inflammatory language" in the upcoming trial of Christopher Schurr, the former GRPD officer charged with second-degree murder in the death of Patrick Lyoya.
In the motion hearing at 17th Circuit Court in Grand Rapids, Judge Christina Mims said she was "reluctant" to control the words of the courtroom.
"Personally, I find the word 'murder' inflammatory, as well as 'shot to death,'" Judge Mims said. "Words like that can be inflammatory, but it doesn't mean they should not be allowed to be used."
Attorneys for Schurr filed the pretrial motion, claiming words like "execution" unjustly assumed the former officer's intent in his role in Lyoya's death.
"There's a sense that Officer Schurr passed judgment as if he was an executioner," Attorney Matthew Borgula said about the word. "There's no evidence that this was a calculated situation."
Borgula also argued such language should be banned from the testimony of a witness who saw Schurr struggling with Lyoya moments before the shooting, but did not witness the actual pulling of the trigger.
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"We want the court to be aware that there's this issue out there," Borgula said. "Some people who didn't witness the act have opinions. They're entitled their opinions, just not in the witness box."
The prosecution countered, claiming the witness was entitled to share with the court why he chose to testify, having seen video of the shooting.
"The law allows us to argue our case not in bland terms but in using emotional heart language," the prosecution said.
The judge's decision to deny the motion was a likely outcome, says Randall Levine, a senior partner at Levine & Levine, a law office in Kalamazoo.
“It would have to be a very high bar before a judge is going to sanitize the testimony of a witness who's trying to describe in the best way that they can, under difficult circumstances, what it is they observed so that a jury can understand," Levine said.
Continuing, Levine said a lawyer is "doing his job" when he "paints a picture with words." Ultimately, it's a jury's duty, he says, to take the facts of the case together with the testimony and deliver a verdict.
"We are in the language business. That's what lawyers do," Levine said. "The jury is ultimately the arbiter."
The trial of Christopher Schurr is set to begin on April 28. Jury selection is scheduled for April 21.
