GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After two days of witness testimony, Judge Nicholas Ayoub announced Friday morning that a final decision on whether to send former GRPD Officer Christopher Schurr's case to trial will come Monday.
The preliminary hearing wrapped up just before 10:30 a.m. Friday.
A single witness testified Friday, followed by closing motions from the prosecution and defense.
The defense called their final witness, Capt. Chad McKersie with the Grand Rapids Police Department, who has more than 20 years of experience.
He's also a defensive tactics instructor and a master taser instructor.
He watched the video evidence of Schurr getting into a physical struggle with Patrick Lyoya over Schurr's taser and ultimately shooting and killing him.
"At the moment he swung his arm back and spun on the officer then yes, he was resisting and obstructing a police officer," said McKersie.
Resisting and obstructing an officer is a felony offense.
McKersie said Lyoya also committed a second felony by attempting to take Officer Schurr's taser.
The police captain outlined factors that may have impacted Schurr's decision-making at the time of the struggle including exhaustion, stress and Lyoya having a weight advantage.
McKersie said he believes Schurr did everything he was trained to do.
"He was working through his available techniques and responses to what was happening in from of him."
In closing, Becker said there's no question there was a death and an intent to kill, but it's up to a jury to decide if the use of deadly force was justified.
"That's what the law says," said Becker. "We argued the case. All the cases we sited says this is a case for the jury."
Schurr's attorneys disagree, arguing the prosecutor did not provide enough evidence to prove the action was unreasonable.
"The evidence shown here...[The prosecution] can't prove this beyond a reasonable doubt," said Matt Borgula, one of Schurr's defense attorneys. "I mean, there's absolutely no evidence to suggest from anybody in law enforcement, who's an expert in the field, that this wasn't justified under the circumstances."
A total of seven witnesses testified during Thursday's hearing, including a police officer responding to the scene of the shooting and two neighbors who live near where the shooting happened.
The court also heard from the passenger and friend who was in Lyoya's car the morning of the shooting.
This preliminary hearing comes nearly seven months after Schurr shot and killed Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids. Schurr is facing a second-degree murder charge, which carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison.
The shooting happened Monday, April 4 just after 8 a.m. near the intersection of Griggs Street and Nelson Avenue SE in Grand Rapids. Schurr pulled Lyoya over, who was driving with a friend in the passenger seat.
Lyoya got out of his vehicle, and after a brief physical struggle and fight over the officer's taser, Lyoya was shot in the back of the head and killed.
Judge Ayoub will announce his decision to the defense and prosecution on Monday at 10 a.m.
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