28-04-2025
Demonstrators rally ahead of former GRPD officer's trial
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A group of people gathered outside the Kent County Courthouse Monday morning to show their support for former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr, who was charged with murder in the death of Patrick Lyoya.
The Back the Blue Michigan Facebook page post asked them to gather with signs, blue line flags and bracelets that say 'Stand with Schurr.'
Updates from day 1 of trial
Schurr's trial for second-degree murder began Monday morning, with the prosecutor working to show the jury Schurr was not justified in shooting Lyoya following a traffic stop in April 2022 and Schurr's defense arguing he acted in self-defense because Schurr and Lyoya were grappling over Schurr's Taser.
'We feel confident that he will be found not guilty because he did what he had to do, he did what he was trained to do. He was in the fight for his life. He deserved to go home at the end of the day,' demonstration organizer Kathleen Walsh told News 8.
Walsh is from the East Coast and has never met Schurr, but said she comes from a law enforcement family and has followed the case in the news.
Michigan Rep. James DeSana, R-Carleton, spoke at the demonstration, arguing Schurr acted in self-defense.
'I stand with you all today to defend the right to self-defense,' DeSana said. 'The right to use lethal force when necessary, when our lives are threatened.'
He said that last week, he introduced House Bill 4404, which he said would 'strengthen' the state's 2006 Self-Defense Act and 'make Michigan's self-defense protections among the strongest in the nation.'
He said that right now, defendants must prove self-defense in any civil lawsuits after a criminal determination is made.
'(H.B. 4404) creates a presumption of civil immunity after a favorable criminal outcome, shifting the burden onto the plaintiffs to prove otherwise,' DeSana said. 'It also explicitly covers the threatened use of force — people who might warn an attacker versus someone who just uses force without warning an attacker — which is not clearly protected under current law.'
Lyoya's family has filed a civil wrongful death suit against Schurr.
One friend of Patrick Lyoya, Rurimunzu Matendo, stood among the Schurr supporters with a cardboard sign that read, '#Justice for Patrick.'
'His Life Mattered. He was a Father and a brother,' Matendo's sign said.
Schurr prosecution expert said in 2022 that video was not 'proof positive' of crime
On Sunday, demonstrators marched through downtown calling for the jury to convict Schurr. There were similar protests in the weeks after Lyoya's death in April 2022.
'Nobody's child should lose their life over a traffic stop if they're unarmed and the situation should be deescalated by police,' one of the demonstrators said Sunday.
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