A split Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled Thursday that a former Grand Rapids police officer can stand trial on a second-degree murder charge, after the officer fatally shot a Black motorist in April 2022.
In their opinion, Court of Appeals Judges Kathleen Feeney and Colleen O’Brien wrote a district judge did not err in binding former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr over for trial, echoing arguments from prosecutors that it should be up to a jury to decide whether Schurr used appropriate force in fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, during a traffic stop in southeast Grand Rapids.
In June 2022, Schurr was charged with second-degree murder by the Kent County Prosecutor’s office, and was bound over for trial after a preliminary examination in Oct. 2022. Schurr was fired from the department shortly after the charge was announced.
“We agree that there is at least sufficient evidence presented at the preliminary examination to establish probable cause that defendant’s actions did not satisfy the standards for use of deadly force in self-defense,” Feeney and O’Brien wrote.