The case took more than two and a half years to bring to trial, but it took less than two days to find a jury.
A Kent County judge swore in jurors Wednesday in the long-awaited murder trial of former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr.
Schurr shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head during a traffic stop in 2022.
“We did not want jurors who had formed an opinion, neither side did."Matt Borgula, defense attorney for Christopher Schurr
Most jurors said they had been aware of the case, but many forgot the details. One said she thought the case was over.
“Surprise, it’s not.” Prosecutor Chris Becker said to her during questioning Tuesday morning. The woman is currently seated on the jury.
“We did not want jurors who had formed an opinion; neither side did,” said Matt Borgula, defense attorney for Christopher Schurr, after the jury was picked. “And you know, it was a high-profile case, the video was out there. So a lot of people had seen the evidence. So having someone that said ‘I thought it was over ‘was a good thing from my point of view. It means that they didn’t really consider it.”
Fourteen members of the jury have been chosen. Of those, only 12 will make the final verdict in the case. Others will be alternate jurors if they make it to the end of the trial.
The 14 are made up of 10 women and two men. Most of the jurors appeared white. Christopher Schurr is also white. Patrick Lyoya was Black and a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the jurors said she was an immigrant from Venezuela who is now a U.S. citizen (“This is an honor to me to be a part of this,” she said during questioning). One juror said she is biracial, with one Black parent and one white parent.
“At least by the end they had one African American on there, just want to make sure there’s some representation on the jury,” said Robert S. Womack, a Kent County Commissioner who is close with the Lyoya family.
But Womack said he was concerned that so many of the people pulled as potential jurors came from other parts of the county, when the incident had occurred in the heart of the city and involved city police. And he questioned whether everyone who was brought in as a potential juror represented the community that was affected by the killing.
“I only saw one African American that was interviewed these last 48 hours, so we still have to do something when it comes to the jury pool to have true representation,” Womack said.
Professionally, a number of jurors said they worked in the healthcare field. Three are nurses.
“I’m an ER nurse, I unfortunately see people die quite a lot,” one of them said when asked if it would be a problem to view the video of Lyoya being killed.
Another juror is a physician’s assistant and another is a pharmacy tech. Two jurors are stay-at-home moms. One works in IT and has a husband living through stage 4 cancer.
“I think I can handle it. I’ve been handling everything so far,” she said when asked if being a juror would be too much of a burden.
Another juror said she is currently dating a police officer who works in another county, but she said she would not be biased in the case toward Schurr.
Michigan Public is not publishing names of jurors at the request of the 17th District Court, and to protect the jurors.
Attorneys from both sides said they were satisfied with the jury Tuesday, even though both had remaining chances to strike any of the jurors from the panel without cause.
“We got done with both sides having strikes left of jurors, which happens from time to time," Borgula said outside the courtroom. "But we’re pleased with the jury, and we’ll be ready to present evidence."
The trial is scheduled to begin Monday.
