As jurors in the Christopher Schurr trial enter their second day of attempting to reach a verdict, after being told by Judge Christina Mims to continue in their deliberation, protesters gathered outside the courthouse downtown in Grand Rapids on May 7. The tone appeared civil, despite a protester being arrested by police a day earlier.
After three years, Schurr now awaits the verdict of the second-degree murder charge after shooting Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in April of 2022.
Posters saying “Justice for Patrick” and blue police support flags are raised as cars pass by the two groups each hoping for a different outcome. Officers from Wyoming, Grand Rapids, Kent County Sheriff’s office and the State Police sit across the street to keep the peace
“We’re trying to stop the violence and keep the peace. But they’re making it hard right now. We’re tired. People are losing their kids, left and right. People’s kids scared to go play,” said KeyKey Bass, a 26-year old living in Grand Rapids, “I’m here to get justice for Patrick and to see a racist go to jail”
Grand Valley State University student Micheal Smith hopes Schurr goes to prison, but worries that the jury’s lengthy deadlock will bump the charge down to manslaughter.
“Cops shouldn’t have all this power that they do,” Smith said. “Don’t push us around like that.”
On the other side of the courthouse, Cathleen Walsh, Co-admin for the Stand For Schurr support group and member of the Back the Blue in Michigan, traveled from Connecticut for the events of Schurr’s trial.
“I am still feeling confident because I feel that if they came back
too quickly it wouldn’t be good. I want them to take their time, look over everything, ask to see the video again and really question things, because we want them to be 100% sure,” Walsh said. “I read about this shooting and I thought ‘oh, that looks fine,’ so I didn’t have to keep up with it and then all of the sudden I saw in the news that he got charged and I said ‘how could he have charges?’ I was livid.”
A former local sheriff’s deputy who wished to remain anonymous also stood with a blue flag in support.
“These officers have to go through so much and it breaks my heart to see how they are treated. They see it on their side but being an officer— I know what goes down and I can tell when an officer is afraid for his life. I just want a fair judgement. If they truly feel that he’s guilty then that’s going to be their judgement, I will feel it’s wrong but that’s their judgement and I pray that they don’t,” the retired officer said. “I give them more credit today than when I joined because today is a very tough decision. Let’s say they make $30 per hour, is your life worth $30 an hour? We run towards, we don’t run away. They (referencing the other crowd) aren’t going to run towards the bullets, they’re gonna run away. They (officers) run towards that.
Judge Mims urged the group of jurors to “talk things over in the spirit of fairness and frankness” but if the jurors cannot come to a unanimous decision, there are chances of a mistrial.
When The Collegiate asked in an email for a comment from the Grand Rapids Police Department, Information Officer Jennifer Kalczuk wrote, “As always, GRPD will be prepared to protect both public safety and those expressing their First Amendment rights. Beyond that, it would be inappropriate to provide any statements about an ongoing court proceeding.”
Collegiate Editor-in-Chief Marc Stoufer III contributed to this article.
