GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Michigan's Court of Appeals was in Grand Rapids Wednesday to hear arguments tied to the case against former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr.
FOX 17 was there during the court proceedings, which can be watched in full below:
Schurr's attorneys say the lower courts got it wrong when sending his murder case to trial.
Defense attorneys also explained there's a chance this case could go all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court because they believe the case lacks legal clarity.
Prosecutors say the case deserves to go before a jury.
The packed courtroom had family members of both Christopher Schurr and Patrick Lyoya in the audience. The appeals court hearing Wednesday is the result of a deadly officer-involved shooting in April of 2022 when 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya was shot and killed by then Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr.
Schurr was criminally charged with second-degree murder. His case was bound over from district court to circuit court, and this appeal has stopped that process.
"At some point, a police officer has rights too," said Schurr's attorney, Matthew Borgula.
Schurr's attorneys argued the totality of circumstances must be considered in this case. The prosecution says the only moment that matters is when Schurr pulled out his weapon and killed Lyoya.
A judge asked the prosecution if the Taser Lyoya had in his hand should be considered a dangerous weapon.
“It’s a fair consideration for a district court, and ultimately a fact finder at a trial, to determine what the Taser’s capabilities were at the time. Certainly, a jury could agree with the defense that he was in immediate danger of harm from the Taser. But that’s a question that must be submitted to a jury once they consider the conflicting evidence that he was simply trying to get away,” said Prosecutor Katie Wendt.
The prosecution says the way the defense has justified the use of deadly force in their argument could set a dangerous precedent.
“They’re saying I can use deadly force when met with force and that’s it. There are no parameters; there are no safeguards in there. Force could be as simple as a push. Force could be as simple as throwing my keys at you. To say that an officer can lawfully use deadly force against someone who merely shoves them — what that means in the course of this case — means that Officer Schurr could have shot and killed Mr. Lyoya at the instant he started running away. That’s not the law. It’s never been the law,” Wendt said.
Schurr's attorneys maintain he was acting within his rights as an officer, in accordance with his training when Lyoya was killed.
“Certain people under the law are justified to do things that others aren’t,” Borgula said. “Police officers have always been afforded justifications that others aren’t. And we give them, by law, those justifications.”
Matthew Borgula, Schurr's attorney, says because Schurr was a police officer at the time of the shooting, under state law, the case should be dismissed entirely.
“It should be dismissed under the actual law. The problem was that the district court and the circuit court applied the wrong law. Given the facts that were developed at the preliminary exam, if you apply it to the law as it is, the case should be dismissed,” Borgula said.
Borgula told reporters on Wednesday that Schurr is not working as a police officer but does have a job to support his family. There is no clear timeline when the Court of Appeals could make their decision.
Schurr's trial in circuit court has been postponed indefinitely.
